Dec 9, 2021 | Latest News
East River Electric Power Cooperative General Manager and CEO Tom Boyko was elected Dec. 8 to serve as the next president of the Mid-West Electric Consumers Association board of directors during the organization’s annual meeting in Denver. Boyko will serve a two-year term as board president. The Mid-West Electric Consumers Association, headquartered in Denver, promotes and protects the interests of federal power customers and their consumers across the Upper Midwest who purchase renewable hydropower from federal dams across the region. East River Electric is a customer of the Western Area Power Administration which markets federal hydropower.
“I’m honored to serve as Mid-West Electric’s board president,” said Boyko. “The organization and its members are focused on providing affordable and reliable power to consumers across our region by providing them with renewable hydropower from the region’s federal dams. I hope to continue the progress and success that Mid-West Electric has achieved over the years and continue to prepare the organization to respond to future challenges and opportunities.”
Boyko, who has been East River’s CEO since 2014, has served as the vice president of the Mid-West Electric board for the past year, and previously served as the organization’s board secretary/treasurer. Mid-West Electric monitors rates and their cost components that the Western Area Power Administration charges for federal hydropower and works closely with Congress, the Army Corps of Engineers and the federal Bureau of Reclamation to promote the interests of the consumer-owned utilities who purchase hydropower that serves consumers across the Upper Midwest.
PHOTO CUTLINE: L to R: Vernell Roberts, Vice President from Detroit Lakes Public Utilities in Minnesota; Patti Murphy, Secretary/Treasurer from McCone Electric Cooperative in Montana; Tom Boyko, President from East River Electric Power Cooperative in South Dakota
Dec 8, 2021 | Latest News
On Dec. 8, Jim Ryken, who serves on the Clay-Union Electric Corporation board of directors, was awarded the prestigious Simonton-Graves award from the Mid-West Electric Consumers Association. Ryken received the award in recognition for his long-standing service to Mid-West, an organization that works closely with the federal agencies that market renewable hydropower from the dams on the Missouri River. Hydropower currently makes up more than 17 percent of Clay-Union Electric’s power supply through its regional wholesale power supplier East River Electric Power Cooperative. Mid-West President Tim Peggram presented Ryken with the award during the association’s annual meeting in Denver.
“For more than 30 years, Jim has been committed to serving the electric cooperative community,” said East River Electric General Manager and CEO Tom Boyko. “Ryken’s contributions at Clay-Union Electric, East River Electric, Mid-West Electric Consumers Association and within other associations have helped shape the success of the region’s electric cooperatives in providing safe, affordable and reliable electricity. His service has also helped protect the important clean and renewable hydropower resource for the region’s consumers.”
As a member-owner of Clay-Union Electric, Ryken serves as Clay-Union’s representative on the East River board of directors and has served on the local Clay-Union Electric board since 1989. He currently serves as Clay-Union’s board secretary and as president of East River’s board of directors. Ryken served on the Mid-West Electric Consumers Association board of directors from 2009-2017.
Ryken is a graduate of Gayville-Volin High School and attended Northern College in Aberdeen. He is a member of the South Dakota Soybean Association as well as the Clay-Union Irrigators. Ryken and his wife Margo have two children. He farms south of Gayville.
PHOTO CUTLINE: L to R: Mid-West Electric Consumers Association Board President Tim Peggram, East River Electric Power Cooperative Board President Jim Ryken and Mid-West Electric Consumers Association Executive Director Jim Horan.
Nov 2, 2021 | Latest News
East River Electric Power Cooperative recently presented service awards to 19 employees with years of service ranging from five to 45 years.
“I’d like to congratulate this year’s service award recipients and thank them for their dedication to East River Electric. We are especially proud of everyone for continuing to work hard and provide our essential service during challenging times such as we are facing this year,” said East River General Manager Tom Boyko.
Brandon Area Maintenance Foreman, Jeff DeLay, one of this year’s service award recipients, began working at East River 45 years ago.
“I was hired as a groundman and held various lineman positions over the years, working my way up to my current foreman position. I have enjoyed the variety of duties and working with new equipment and technology throughout my career. I appreciate working for an electric cooperative and knowing that we are all working together towards a common goal,” said DeLay.
Dean Feistner, Facilities Coordinator, celebrated his 40-year work anniversary. “I have been greatly blessed through the 40 years that I have been at East River Electric,” shared Feistner. “Having the opportunity to work with a professional group of people where you can see the difference that you make in both our community and in the entire system footprint has been rewarding. I have witnessed many changes to the industry over the years. I started out using manual drafting tools then moved to computerized drafting over 30 years ago. There have always been opportunities for problem solving and for being innovative.”
A listing of the awards is as follows:
• Five years: Brian Byrd, Shayla Ebsen, Ryan Himley, David Schaefer, Elliott Shoup-Owens
• Ten years: Bob Donelan, Cathy Olinger, Casey Sichmeller
• Fifteen years: Maria Anderson, Chad Gerdes, Deb O’Neal, Bob Sahr, Terry Zingmark
• Twenty years: Brenda Fods
• Thirty years: Ron Golden, Barb Strom
• Thirty-Five years: Roger Kranz
• Forty years: Dean Feistner
• Forty-Five years: Jeff DeLay
Sep 9, 2021 | Latest News
Jody Sundsted, retired Senior Vice President and Upper Great Plains Manager for the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), was presented with East River Electric Power Cooperative’s highest honor, the Eminent Service Award, during the organization’s 71st annual meeting Sept. 8, 2021, in Sioux Falls. The award is given annually to individuals who have made significant contributions to East River and the cooperative movement.
“East River Electric and its member systems honor your years of service to the federal hydropower system and your work to provide consumers with safe, reliable and affordable electric power,” said East River Electric General Manager Tom Boyko. “Your leadership throughout your career has helped advance the mission of WAPA and its customers like East River which provide a valuable service that powers the lives of people throughout our region.”
As WAPA’s Upper Great Plains Regional Manager, Sundsted led more than 340 employees across Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota in serving customers with cost-based federal hydropower. Before taking on the regional manager mantle, Sundsted served as the vice president of Upper Great Plains Power Marketing. Sundsted began his federal career in 1985 as a general engineer with WAPA. During his career, he served in the Power Marketing office as a public utilities specialist in the Contracts and Rates divisions and as the Upper Great Plain’s financial manager before his leadership role in power marketing.
Sundsted holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial and management engineering from Montana State University.
Sep 9, 2021 | Latest News
Paul Sukut, who served as Chief Executive Officer for Basin Electric Power Cooperative for the past 7 years, was presented with East River Electric Power Cooperative’s highest honor, the Eminent Service Award, during the organization’s 71st annual meeting Sept. 8, 2021, in Sioux Falls. The award is given annually to individuals who have made significant contributions to East River and the cooperative movement.
Sukut dedicated his career to rural America and the region’s cooperative movement. His decades of work helped to strengthen electric cooperatives and public power to improve the lives of people across rural America.
“On behalf of East River and our member systems, thank you for your 42 years of service to the electric power industry and 38 years of service to Basin Electric Power Cooperative and its members,” said East River Electric General Manager Tom Boyko. “The leadership you have provided throughout your career has helped to ensure consumers across the region received safe, reliable and affordable electric power.”
Sukut has worked for Basin Electric since 1983 and has announced that he will be retiring in the near future. Prior to being named Basin Electric’s CEO and general manager in 2014, Sukut served as the organization’s executive vice president and CFO.
Sukut has a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration and political science from Jamestown College in North Dakota, and a master’s degree in accounting and tax from the University of North Dakota. He is a North Dakota registered Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.
Sep 9, 2021 | Latest News
East River Electric Power Cooperative held its 71st annual meeting Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, at the Best Western Plus Ramkota Hotel in Sioux Falls. The theme of this year’s annual meeting was ‘Cooperatives: The Power of Working Together’. The meeting highlighted the many ways that East River is working alongside its member systems on making crucial decisions that will position the cooperative network for continued success in providing safe, reliable and affordable electricity.
During the morning general session, speakers discussed how extreme cold temperatures in mid-February 2021 led to historic levels of energy demand on the U.S. power grid, resulting in widespread rolling power outages throughout much of the central portion of the country.
“The February energy emergency highlighted the importance of being connected to a cooperative family to share risk and avoid fluctuations in the energy market,” said East River Electric General Manager Tom Boyko. “Unlike consumers in Texas who were stuck with utility bills exceeding $10,000 dollars in some cases following the emergency event, East River’s members paid the same rate during and after the energy emergency as they paid before because we have long term resources to serve our load. That’s the power of being connected to a cooperative power supply.”
The cooperative’s leaders also provided an update on East River’s aggressive Transmission System Upgrade Plan. The plan is designed to accelerate additions and replacements to the cooperative’s transmission infrastructure to improve system reliability and provide for growth.
“East River is currently in the third year of our Transmission System Upgrade Plan. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our teams made significant progress on the upgrade plan over this past year,” said Boyko. “We completed several key projects that are designed to strengthen our system’s backbone. As always, this critical work was completed with a primary focus on ensuring the safety of our workforce.”
During the annual meeting’s lunch, East River’s leadership presented the cooperative’s Eminent Service Award to retired Western Area Power Administration Senior Vice President and Upper Great Plains Manager Jody Sundsted as well as to Basin Electric Power Cooperative CEO Paul Sukut. The Eminent Service Award is the most prestigious honor given by East River’s Board of Directors.
The afternoon session began with an update from Basin Electric Power Cooperative. A business meeting followed the annual meeting’s general session where the director election was held, and the cooperative’s policy statements were adopted.
