Letter to Editor | Considerations when voting for OPALCO board

Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) is your member-owned, non-profit cooperative providing energy services to San Juan County since 1937. Every year, members have the opportunity to vote for candidates who will join the Board of Directors.

Electric Cooperatives play a vital role in communities across America. Over 800 Cooperatives serve 42 million people, 21 million businesses, and their infrastructure is spread across 57% of the nation’s landmass.

Today, Electric Utilities are facing the challenges posed by the need to transform the nation’s electric supply to a cleaner, more reliable, and sustainable one. Renewable generation, more distributed generation, and much more sophisticated controls are rapidly being deployed. State and Local governments are setting ever more stringent renewable portfolio regulations  that utilities must meet.

As this transition unfolds, Cooperatives must understand and plan for how their local systems will evolve and deliver benefits to their members, while meeting the technical and regulatory requirements. Opalco is a key community asset in helping San Juan County achieve its share of meeting Washington State’s carbon reduction goals.

Your vote for your Board member is important, because they are charged with overseeing the progress that Opalco is making toward these goals. We encourage you to take some time, become familiar with the candidates’ biographies and their positions. These are available on the Opalco website: https://www.opalco.com/about-community/elections-hub

We respectfully ask that you participate in your Coop by voting, and that you will return Rick and Vince for another term on the Board.

• Rick Christmas –   District 2 Orcas Island
• Vince Dauciunas – District 1, San Juan Island