LREC CEO Tim Thompson presented LREC’s vision, and ultimate decision, to enter the natural gas business by and through its subsidiary, Lake Region Energy Services (LRES), at the annual MREA EIS held earlier this month in Bloomington, Minnesota. LREC is the only electric cooperative in the State of Minnesota that has a natural gas subsidiary. MREA’s website states that the EIS “has evolved into an exclusive environment for electric cooperatives in Minnesota and the Midwest region to become informed on key issues, exchange ideas, share experiences, and talk through various cooperative strategies.” Tim’s presentation covered how the idea of LREC entering into the natural gas world evolved into LRES and stressed the importance of keeping regulation local with each town served by LRES having its respective mayor serve on the rate commission. LRES is on the cusp of topping 1,000 customers this year, and serves rural areas as well as the cities of Dent, Deer Creek, Parkers Prairie and Miltona. Feedback from LRES customers has been extremely positive and LRES customers are experiencing convenience and savings on an average of several hundreds of dollars per year.
