4
SUMMER 2014
L
ike other businesses in the Bakken
area, Mountrail-Williams Electric
Cooperative (MWEC) has grown
with the recent oil boom. Audrey Staples,
New Town Office Manager at MWEC,
says, “Just five years ago, we had 16
substations; now we have 48 with more
being built. We’ve also had to install a lot
of new transmission lines.” She adds, “We
had 35 employees; now we have 100 and
an additional 200 contractors.”
Growing Pains
The increased number of employees has
altered the business. Staples notes that
the company has experienced “growing
pains,” which are evident in crowded
offices and outgrown buildings. Another
change is that employees travel more to
ensure continued education as the new
substations and transmission lines are
installed.
Additionally, business has increased
significantly. Staples says, “Almost every
aspect of the boom involves us in one way
or another. Every oil well needs electricity.
The oil is being shipped out on rail, which
needs power. People are building new homes
and putting additions on their property.”
Cooperative Structure
MWEC is structured as a cooperative, so
customers are also members and the net
margin (revenue less expenses) is allocated
to them each year in the form of patronage.
The amount each member receives is based
on the net margin, taking into account the
amount of electricitypurchasedby thatmember.
Members receive capital credit statements
showing their current capital credit balance
and a total balance for all years combined.
As a co-op, MWEC strives to demonstrate
cooperative values through the hometown
feel and familiar faces that it maintains,
despite area growth. Dale Haugen, General
Manager at MWEC, says, “We’re excited
that the revenue coming in now can help us
serve new co-op members as well as those
that are part of our roots.We’ve been able to
rebuild our system, making it bigger and
stronger, in a very short time with no rate
increases to our residential class of members.”
The cooperative contributes to the community
through a loan program and other electricity-
related programs, a Youth Tour program, a
scholarship for college students, and through
employees participating in community clubs
and events.
Strategic Partners
MWEC has three full-service local offices:
inWilliston,NewTown,and Stanley.Customers
can perform a variety of functions—such as
paying their bill or requesting service—at
all of the offices. Staples notes that each office
serves a specific area and has its own lineman,
so customers can get service quickly in the
event of outages.
Because RTC is also a cooperative, doing
business together is a natural fit and each
cooperative is a member of the other. RTC
supports MWEC with a phone system, fiber
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
Using oil boom growth as a
springboard for improvement
Mountrail-
Williams
Electric
Cooperative
RTC had the connections, data
circuits, and digital phone system to
do everything we asked and more.”
—DALE HAUGEN,
GENERAL MANAGER, MWEC
Front row: Devin Dorval, Audrey Staples, Chris Svaleson, and Kenton Onstad
Back Row: Kirk Hawkinson, Kyle Jesson, Jeremy Folven, Jason Koehn, and Josh Bartsch
