Electric rates to decrease

The Daily Inter Lake

Flathead Electric Cooperative announced a general rate decrease on Monday, together with a change on the board of trustees.

The decrease will amount to more than $2 million in 2005, or about 2 percent of total revenue. The move follows last year's reduction in the basic charge, which dropped from $21 to $16 for residential and small commercial customers.

This year's rate reduction stems from internal cost controls and lower wholesale power prices, according to a company press release.

The co-op also announced that Board President Bruce Measure resigned on Wednesday. Measure was appointed to the Northwest Power Council by Gov.-elect Brian Schweitzer last week and resigned from the co-op board to eliminate any potential conflict of interest.

Measure, a Kalispell attorney, was elected to the board in 2002. His father, Ambrose Measure, helped establish the co-op in the 1930s, together with a number of other local and regional consumer-owned organizations.

"I'm as proud of serving on this board as anything I've done in my professional career," Measure said. "We've rebuilt our financial condition, we're rejuvenating our system, and we're once again operating on all cylinders. We have a Flathead Electric that our members can trust."

Whitefish business owner Jay Downen was elected president to replace Measure.

Downen announced that the board will immediately begin accepting applications from co-op members who want to fill Measure's trustee seat for the next few months. Interested individuals must reside in Measure's district, which in broad terms covers Evergreen and Kalispell south of U.S. 2.

The board will accept applications until Jan. 20. The person chosen to replace Measure will serve until the next general membership meeting in April.

For more detailed information on the district boundaries and position requirements, contact Bev McGuire at 751-4483.