Nominations for board of director candidates representing Districts 4 and 5 will be accepted until April 11.

Candidates must live in the district they represent and meet eligibility criteria outlined in the Itasca-Mantrap Bylaws.

Nominees are required to submit an official petition form with at least 10 signatures of other Itasca-Mantrap Members residing in the same district.

If you are interested in becoming a candidate for the board of directors, please call our office to request a director candidate packet.

Petitions and other forms from the packet must be received in our office by the close of business on April 11.

Director nominations will close April 11

We are looking for volunteers to help ready Itasca State Park for visitor season! We will meet at the park Saturday, May 7 at 8:00 a.m. and serve a free lunch around noon. No park pass is required that day.

Volunteers are needed for pruning, transplanting trees and shrubs, creating and installing tree cages, high pruning, removing bud caps, raking and various other projects.

This annual event is sponsored by Minnesota’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives in partnership with Minnesota State Parks.

Volunteers need to RSVP by calling Itasca-Mantrap at 218-732-3377 or toll-free at 1-888-713-3377.

Volunteers needed for GreenTouch Day! Is your water heater trying to tell you something?

Nearly 20% of a typical household’s energy consumption is used for water heating, making it one of the largest energy expenses most homeowners have.

Replacing your old, inefficient water heater with a Marathon™ water heater can help you cut your water heating expenses by as much as 45%.

Program guidelines:• Water heater controlled on general service• 85 or 105 gallon water heater• Monthly credit of $3.00 for Peak Shave - up to

8 hours of control per day• Monthly credit of $5.00 for Off-Peak - 16 hours

of control per day• Members must use a minimum of 400 kWh on

the general service meter per month to qualify for the monthly credit

Contact Itasca-Mantrap to take advantage of this limited time offer!

For a limited time, Itasca-Mantrap Members can purchase a

Marathon water heater for only $350!

NewsLiNeApril 2016

Itasca-Mantrap’s retail rate is not expected to increase for 2016 even though Great River Energy (GRE), our wholesale power supplier,

increased their power cost to us by 2.5 percent. Since your Cooperative is in a good financial position, your Board of Directors decided not to pass the estimated $600,000 rate increase from GRE on to our Members.

However, in the event that Itasca-Mantrap receives a Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) from GRE, that charge would be passed on directly to Itasca-Mantrap Members and appear as a separate line item on your bill.

The monthly basic charge for each general service meter will increase by $1.00 effective with the June billing period. This basic charge increase does not apply to load management meters. The basic charge is designed to recover fixed costs to deliver electricity to our Members. The remainder of our delivery cost is collected through our kilowatt-hour (kWh) rate.

Since the kWh sales fluctuate with the weather, it is difficult to budget

accurately for recovery of our operating costs, especially when we experience extreme weather swings. The basic charge gives the co-op a level, predictable revenue stream independent of weather conditions. You can take some of the same volatility out of your own electric bill by participating in our budget billing program.

Your Board is also working on adding a net metering fee to the Distributed Generation (DG) Policy for PURPA Qualified facilities. Net Metering is required when a Member interconnects distributed generation – such as wind, solar or generators – to the Cooperative’s distribution lines.

The net metering fee uses a formula, accepted by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), to calculate an additional fee that will be applied to the electric bills of Members with DG facilities.

The intent of the fee is to allow us to continue recovering our fixed costs to deliver electricity to the DG facility even though energy sales are reduced. This fee will become effective June 1. DG facilities already installed are exempt from the net metering fee, unless they modify or increase their DG load.

Additionally, the Itasca-Mantrap Board approved a policy requiring a deposit fee for new, reconnected and transferred services effective June 1. The Cooperative will use a third-party vendor to obtain a credit rating and rely on our billing records to review payment history. If the billing history or credit rating do not meet the criteria, a $200 deposit fee will be required before the Cooperative will install, transfer or reconnect a service. The deposit and accrued interest will be applied to the Member’s energy account when the account has remained in current status for 12 consecutive months.

Until next time,

Michael

Rates, Net Metering and Service Deposits by Michael Monsrud, President - CEO

All projects have a first step. In the case of jobs calling for shovel to meet earth, that first step is to call Gopher State One Call to make sure it’s safe. Once you’ve got the green light, it’s time to dig in.

Call Gopher State One Call at least 48 business hours

before digging.

1-800-252-1166

www.gopherstateonecall.org

April 2016 Itasca-Mantrap newsLIne Page 2

Utility poles are the backbone of our distribution network. They ensure a reliable electric system, which is why we routinely have the poles on our lines inspected. Itasca-Mantrap contracts with STAR Energy Services for pole inspections. STAR is an engineering and inspection company owned by five Minnesota and three Iowa rural electric cooperatives. Throughout the year, they check the poles for decay caused by exposure to the elements. Typically, a standard wooden distribution pole is expected to last more than 50 years.

Occasionally, poles need to be replaced for other reasons besides decay and old age. Weather disasters, power line relocation

and car crashes are potential causes for immediate replacement.

Here is a quick breakdown of how crews replace a utility pole:

When a pole needs to be replaced, crews will start the process by digging a hole, typically next to the pole being replaced. The depth of the hole must be 15 percent of the new pole’s height. Next, the new pole must be fitted with bolts, cross arms, insulators, ground wires and arm braces – all of the necessary parts for delivering safe and reliable electricity. Then, crews safely detach the power lines from the old pole. The new pole is then raised and guided carefully into position, and the lines are

attached, leaving the new pole to do its job.

Recently, Itasca-Mantrap crews replaced an aging utility pole in Osage. On this page, you’ll find photos of the process of the pole replacement.

The next time you come across an Itasca-Mantrap crew replacing a pole, use caution and know that this process ensures a more reliable electric system for you, our Members.

Linemen Chad Grande, Kevin George and Tim Huwe remove the line from the old pole

Linemen prep the new pole for placement

Linemen Chad Grande and Chris Bungert attachthe line to the new pole

Why we replace utility poles

April 2016 Itasca-Mantrap newsLIne Page 3

Save $25 and get tuned up!

Take a PowerNap®

with

Get your central air conditioner or air source heat pump

tuned up by your heating and cooling contractor and we’ll send

you $25 cash!

Call your HVAC contractor or our office or go to

www.itasca-mantrap.com for more information and to receive

an application. A tune-up is recommended every two years.

Enroll in the PowerNap® cycled air program and receive a $30 credit on your electric bill

every summer! As a bonus, enroll by May 2 and receive a $10 Dairy Queen gift card! Call our office or go to www.itasca-mantrap.com for more details or to sign up.**Only central air conditioning units

on the general service meter qualify. Current participants do not need to

re-apply.

Tucked back in the beautiful North Country woods on 2,400 acres lies the Northern Lights Council’s Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Camp Wilderness Scout Camp. The camp hosts year-round events for Cub Scouts from all over the United States.

The camp has worked over the years upgrading much of the exterior lighting to LEDs. The lighting upgrades were brought indoors in the winter of 2015 when the camp decided to update the maintenance shop. On the suggestion from electrician Ken Davis of Armory Electric, Inc., the T-12 120-watt fluorescent light fixtures were replaced with 36-watt LED fixtures.

Andy Kietzman, Camp Wilderness Ranger, uses the maintenance shop often and is thrilled with the upgrade. Gone are the days of using flashlights and head lamps to see what they were doing due to poor lighting.

“We have worked with Ken for many years to upgrade a lot of the lighting around the camp to LEDs. Exterior lighting on buildings, yard lights, lights on our sled hills, etc. are all LEDs thanks to Ken’s help, and the financial support of our Council Executive Board and the Itasca-Mantrap rebate program to promote energy conservation. The BSA is all about using our facilities to demonstrate good conservation on all levels, and this is a great way to be good stewards of our electrical resources!”

Camp Wilderness received a rebate from Itasca-Mantrap based on energy saving measures with the LED lighting retrofit. If you are planning a project that incorporates energy saving measures, contact Itasca-Mantrap to see if your project qualifies for a rebate.

LED Commercial & Industrial Rebate

Maintenance shop with LED lighting

L to R: Andy Kietzman- Camp Wilderness Ranger, Northern Lights Council Boy Scouts of America, Esther Simon-Itasca-Mantrap Member Services Manager

April 2016 Itasca-Mantrap newsLIne Page 4

Students at Pine Point Elementary School learned about electrical generation, transmission and conservation through the story of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison by presenters from The Bakken Museum, Feb. 2. This presentation included involvement from the students, encouraging them to think about how they can help solve the energy challenges we face today. This event was sponsored by Great River Energy and Itasca-Mantrap.

The Bakken Museum was founded in 1975 by Earl E. Bakken, who invented the first wearable, battery-powered, transistorized cardiac pacemaker. The Bakken Museum strives to inspire a passion for science and its potential for social good by helping people explore the history and nature of electricity. The Bakken Museum is located on the western shore of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis.

“War of the Currents”

APRIL 11, 2016 is NATIONAL LINEMAN APPRECIATION DAY.

#thankalineman

April 2016 Itasca-Mantrap newsLIne Page 5

Save on your next purchase of GE ENERGY STAR® certified

CFL and LED bulbs

Due to the presence of mercury, CFLs must be recycled. In Minnesota, it is illegal to place them directly in the garbage. For options on recycling, call the MN Pollution Control Agency at 800-657-3864 or go to: www.earth911.com for more information.

Visit www.energywisemn.com to learn more and enter for a chance to win a $500 energy credit.

Home Lighting Promotion runs April 4 – Aug. 31, 2016.

UP TO

UP TO

$5 OFF $3 OFFselect GE ENERGY STAR® light bulbs at participating Walmart stores, in store markdown

select GE ENERGY STAR® LED bulbs with the coupon below

ITASCA-MANTRAP COOPERATIVE 16930 County 6, PO Box 192

Park Rapids, MN 56470

OFFICE HOURS 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday - Friday

Phone (during office hours & 24-hour outage reporting):

218-732-3377 (or) 888-713-3377 Fax: 218-732-5890

E-mail: itasca@itasca-mantrap.com www.itasca-mantrap.com

GOPHER STATE ONE CALL • Call before you dig! 1-800-252-1166

www.gopherstateonecall.org

OFFICERS & DIRECTORSDist. 1 – Brian Behrens, Director Dist. 2 – Marv Vredenburg, Director Dist. 3 – Willard Clausen, Treasurer Dist. 4 – Al Czeczok, Asst Sec-Treas Dist. 5 – Nancy M. Utke, Chair Dist. 6 – Tim Kivi, Secretary Dist. 7 – Dan Breitbach, Vice Chair President-CEO – Michael Monsrud

Brush Clearing and Mowing

Call for a Free Estimate218-732-3377

Experienced Prompt Service

Iserv professionals use state-of-the-art equipment so you can enjoy the outdoors.

Thank you.

Your continued support of the

Operation Round Up® program to help local

civic and charitable organizations is

appreciated.

April 2016 Itasca-Mantrap newsLIne Page 6