To the Editor:

In last Friday’s Plainsman Jeff Madison talks about this “partisan group of disgruntled followers … and is endorsing a prejudicial single-issue slate of candidates.”

If the single issue is “trust,” he is correct. We need people on the Board that can be trusted and not turn Dakota Energy (DE) over to a group of investment bankers. He talks about colluding with East River (ERC).

At the Town Hall meeting ERC and Basin had representatives there, but DE refused to let them speak. The Board held a number of meetings and had a representative from Guzman Energy but not ERC or Basin. This Board and manager seem to be a bit biased. Guzman’s Board has some big money investors running it, and ERC’s board is made up of rural South Dakota farmers.

The DE manager continues to say, under oath, that members are receiving money from ERC. Show us your proof or drop the subject. No members are being paid by ERC. He also states the reason for wanting to leave ERC is because they can buy power off the open market cheaper than they can buy it from ERC. He forgot to mention wheeling cost and other fees, which could bring the cost to members more than what ERC charges.

If you add the cost of a buyout you could add two or three hundred dollars a month more to your bill and that would be for 10 or more years.

The Board and manager continue to blame ERC for high rates. ERC charges all member coops the same rate. According to the 2019 EIA report on Utility Bundled Retail Rates for ERC member coops, lowest was 9.32c/kwh and highest was DE at 14.28c/kwh, so the problem isn’t ERC.

Restore trust. Elect Baruth, Nemec, and Raschke as directors.

Bill Folk
Huron