Lake Region Electric Cooperative
The Lake Region Electric Cooperative managerial team, in conjunction with your board of directors, is currently undertaking its 2020 Strategic Planning. This year, we have three areas of focus — People, Technology, and Operational Excellence.
People: Doing Our Jobs Well
Our cooperative employees are the backbone of all the work we do. We are blessed to have great employees who understand the cooperative’s mission, are helpful and courteous to our members, and approach their careers with professionalism. Like many other industries, electric cooperatives must work today to ensure staffing needs are met in years to come. At Lake Region, we’ve been doing succession planning to fill positions vacated by retirements. In fact, there have been 34 new hires since 2012! Our workforce now totals 75.
Technology: Part of Our Toolbox
The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to rethink some of our trusted, old approaches. We examined ways to better automate and streamline processes. We have been quite attentive to emerging technologies that can be used to reduce power outages.
We have begun a pilot program with a contracting company, Exacter Inc., to use technology to help us prevent outages. The company will drive past our powerlines and use specially designed scanning devices that pick up any partial discharge of electricity, helping pinpoint defects in utility equipment and hardware. It’s like doing a CT body health scan for our electric distribution grid! Exacter’s findings will identify potential trouble spots before an outage occurs and will allow our crews to make preemptive repairs.
Through the pilot program, 150 miles of power lines and 10 of our 30 substations will be scanned. We will be anxious for the results and are hopeful that this technology will allow us to reduce power outages.
Operational Excellence: Take What We Have and Make It Better
Our annual Strategic Planning sessions are very purposeful. We carefully review processes and examine ways in which we could improve. Communicating with our members is of particular interest this year as we lean more on social media to reach our members and the broader community.
Our goal is two-pronged — to provide you with excellent service and increase your access to information and assistance. We aim to be your choice for energy and information today and for years to come.
