Dear Members:
The 2026 annual meeting is at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 10, at the Vinton Grange Hall. Additionally, we will broadcast the meeting via our YouTube channel. To join the meeting, visit psrec.coop and click the link in the banner at the top of the page. If you are not attending in person, we encourage members to send questions in advance by emailing PSREC or by the form included in your voting packet. We will also take questions through the chat function during the meeting and in person.
2025 Financial Results
Last year was the third good financial year in a row for the cooperative after the record loss seen in 2022. This year has also been good for power costs, allowing Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative to maintain rates and further build its financial strength back to the goals laid out by the board of directors.
As we look ahead, we are coming to a point where we may have to raise rates. The primary driver is inflation, including the cost of personnel, the cost of vehicles and fuel, and the cost of equipment.
We will be laying out the proposed rates at the annual meeting. Staff is expecting to recommend to the board an increase of $.01 per kilowatt-hour, or 4%. This will keep our rates similar to or lower than our neighboring publicly owned utilities, depending on rate class. Our rates will also be less expensive than the 2 investor-owned utilities in California that border PSREC.
Fort Sage
We continue our work on the Fort Sage Transmission Line and Substation. We received a grant from the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, covering roughly 1/3 of the cost of the Fort Sage Line. We have begun ordering key long-lead-time items, including a new transformer, and hope to have the groundbreaking soon. We are waiting on 1 last easement from the U.S. Army and the notice to proceed. Hopefully, we will have news about this by the annual meeting.
This new transmission line should give us some relief from the California power markets and transmission rate increases. The project is expected to come into service in 2028. The costs of construction should be offset over time by transmission and generation savings. We strongly believe building to the east will keep rates lower than they would be otherwise. It will also minimize transmission power outages and give us more control of power supply options, along with the ability to back up 100% of our utility load during Public Safety Power Shutoffs from the 2 utilities we use to deliver our power. This will also improve our overall system reliability during winter storms.
We are also getting questions from members on the impact of data centers in Nevada and of Liberty Utilities' contract ending with NV Energy. The data center question is affecting the electric industry nationwide, sometimes leading to higher prices. It may affect our ability to buy less expensive power in the short run, but in the long run, we are looking at building our own resources with our fellow consumer-owned utilities.
The Liberty Utilities power supply question does not affect us. Liberty will be shopping for power in the Nevada and Utah markets just as PSREC, LMUD, Truckee Donner PUD, and others are shopping.
PSREC continues to improve system reliability and response times through its supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) network and system hardening. PSREC continued its increased vegetation management and removal of hazard trees on the system to improve reliability and fire safety. We appreciate the cooperation of our member-owners in removing trees. A hazard tree may look green and alive, but it still may have to be removed due to defects. Not removing these trees is not an option for the cooperative.
Other utilities to our west have turned off their electric grid to prevent fires caused by the electric grid. Through maintenance and aggressive vegetation management, we have been able to avoid power shutoffs, but we may have to implement shutoffs if weather conditions become extreme— especially in the westernmost part of our cooperative service territory, Graeagle to Quincy. If this happens, our crews will patrol our lines and restore service as fast as possible. 1 of the benefits of member ownership is that PSREC is focused on our communities.
Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications
PSREC is happy to report our subsidiary, Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications (PST), is expanding its system and bringing improved services to our members and surrounding communities thanks to our success in obtaining fiber grants. We are thankful the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) continues to support PST’s expansion of fiber-optic broadband in the communities we serve. You can read the PST report for more information. PSREC and PST send outage notifications via email and text messages. To sign up for these notices, log in to SmartHub. If you need assistance, call us at (530) 832-4261.
Community Solar
The PSREC Community Solar Program continues to offer members an alternative choice to rooftop solar and now satisfies the Title 24 rooftop solar requirement for new construction in California.
Buying solar power from PSREC’s Community Solar Program is a great option for members who may not want to make the large upfront investment in a solar system or rent or live in an area with shading where a solar energy system would not produce optimal energy output. For more information or to sign up for the Community Solar Program, call (530) 832-4261 or visit our website.
We hope you will join us at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 10, for the annual membership meeting.
Sincerely,
Fred Nelson
PSREC Board President
Bob Marshall
General Manager