Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Thank you. I'd like to thank the chair and the vice-chairs and the rest of the committee for this invitation. We really appreciate it. Rural electrification associations, known as REAs, are unique to Alberta. The Alberta Federation of REAs represents an entity that exists nowh

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I will too.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We're not in the production of energy, other than microgeneration on farms and things like that. There are some farmers who have put solar panels up, and windmills or wind chargers, to produce and supplement their own energy.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  No, it's not. Each REA has an area, which the Alberta Utilities Commission has said you can serve people in. You can only serve your members. We have a wire-owner to wire-owner contract with the utility companies, which defines who can serve what. Originally, when REAs were forme

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  No. There's only one other utility, and that's either ATCO or Fortis.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Our latest agreement we signed with Fortis is that we can serve subdivisions. We are now serving subdivisions. We signed that agreement, and then shortly after, Alberta boomed, and all kinds of places were setting up subdivisions. So it was really a blessing for us.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes. Some of the smaller REAs are just like the ripest apples on the tree, and the utility companies want to buy them out. They're offering big bucks for them, too. You know the value of it. It is $20,000 to $25,000 because you have a transformer pole in your yard.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Thank you.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Some of the REAs buy and sell their energy. Others contract with EPCOR or Direct Energy, and they supply the energy part. The other thing is that the REA I'm with is also one of the partners in Corridor Communications. We got into it with the hope that we could read our meters us

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  The gas co-op beside us does the same thing. We actually are working with them.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  It's 100%. It's the most accurate one. As for other services, other than building the line to them, we own the line to the house.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  If you look at some of the five factors of success for co-ops, you have leadership—and I guess we have to make sure that we have the right leaders in the community. One of the ways of doing that is by running board governance workshops for people who want to learn more about how

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Okay. We had a real problem with borrowing money, because when any financial institution would look at an REA, they see a pole and a line but really didn't classify those as assets. But because an REA can determine its own rates—you can charge $20 a month today, but tomorrow you

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  The main reason is that they are member owners of the system. When they drive down the road, they can say, “I own that power pole.” Also, the rates, in most cases, are less than what the utility company is paying. It's an investment in the future. They look back, and some of thei