Midland Power will consolidate rate classes in April, the final step in a 13-year-long merger process. The result will be a single set of unified residential and small commercial rates.
The revised rate structure was approved by the Midland Power board of directors in January after several months of study. The new rates will take effect on April 1, 2025.
The consolidation ends a process that began when members of Midland Power Cooperative and Humboldt County Rural Electric Cooperative overwhelmingly approved a merger in March 2012, with roughly 90 percent of the votes cast in favor.
Since the merger became effective the following January, the combined cooperative has saved an estimated $7.75 million while simultaneously making substantial investments to enhance system reliability, provide innovative services and programs, and enhance employee and member safety.
The savings also offset otherwise needed rate increases. In fact, since the merger, Midland’s electric rates have increased by an average of just one percent per year. By contrast, the consumer price index, which measures a broad swath of consumer goods and services, has increased by 37 percent, roughly three times as quickly.
"When Humboldt County REC and Midland Power merged, we intentionally left the two co-ops’ existing rate structures in place," said Midland Power Cooperative CEO Bill McKim. "As the years have passed, we’ve worked to bring those two sets of rates closer together. We’re finally at a point now where it makes sense to merge them as was always intended."
The majority of residential members in the original Midland Power service territory will see their rate increase by less than 1 percent, while most members living in the footprint of the former Humboldt County REC will see a slight decrease as the rates are balanced.
The new rates are designed to be revenue-neutral for the cooperative. The adjustments better reflect the costs of providing service to the impacted rate classes and were identified during a recent cost-of-service study performed by an independent rate consultant.
A full breakdown of the impacted rates is on page 3 of the March-April 2025 issue of Energy Insider.
"It’s important to recognize that the merger didn’t just benefit members in the past, it’s still providing tangible benefits to them today," said McKim. "By increasing our meter count and realizing the savings that came with consolidating the co-ops, we’ve been able to offer programs and services that many of Iowa’s smaller co-ops simply can’t."