About Lane Electric Cooperative

Lane Electric Co-op is a rural electric distribution cooperative whose primary mission is to provide safe, reliable and economical electric service to its member/owners in Lane County. We are highly involved in our local communities and offer a variety of programs for the elementary, middle and high schools students in our area. We also support our local businesses, promote economic development and are highly involved with youth sports programs.

We also offer many different programs and services developed to assist our residential, commercial and industrial customers. While our programs are based on timing and funding availability, we always look for better and more cost efficient ways to deliver a full slate of member programs. For a summary of our most current programs, see PROGRAMS & SERVICES.

Lane Electric Facts:

• Lane Electric Cooperative was incorporated on May 17, 1939 to provide rural electric service on a cooperative basis to areas in Lane County that were not being served by other utilities. The first area of service was the upper end of the McKenzie valley with more expansion soon to come.



• Today, Lane Electric's service territory covers 2,600 square miles including Forest Service land along our eastern boundary in the Cascade Mountains to Linn County on our northern boundary, the Row River valley and Oakridge to our south, and the eastern edge of the city of Veneta as our western boundary. Our service territory surrounds islands of service by the Eugene and Springfield municipal utilities, the Emerald PUD and service by PP&L to several towns along the I-5 corridor. The cities and towns Lane Electric serves in or near include Blue River, Cottage Grove, Creswell, Culp Creek, Dexter, Dorena, Eugene, Fall Creek, Lorane, Oakridge, Pleasant Hill, Veneta, Vida and Westfir. The electric service in some of these areas is split between utilities where there are adjoining service territory boundaries.
  
  
• As a cooperative, Lane Electric is owned by our member/owners who exercise their control by electing a total of 7 board members by residential district. The board of directors determine the strategic plans, the general operating policies, the electric rates and the annual operating budget for the cooperative. The 7 board members are elected from four Board Districts to each serve a three-year term. The four board member districts are the Central District, the McKenzie District, the Row River District and the Oakridge District.
  
  
• The General Manager of Lane Electric, Rick Crinklaw, is responsible for implementing the board directions and guidelines through the staff in the day-to-day operations of the cooperative.
  
  
• For many years, Lane Electric held a single, big tent event for their annual meeting of the membership in the Fall as directed by the bylaws. Typically, the annual meeting was held at Churchill High School in Eugene on a Saturday morning. More recently, Lane Electric began taking the annual meeting on the road to each of the local communities they serve, in the form of "district meetings". Each year, 4-6 district meetings, similar in format to the annual meeting, rotate around Lane Electric's service area providing the membership with reports about the preceding year's accomplishments. The official annual meeting, which gives members the opportunity to vote on bylaw changes and vote on board member positions up for election, takes place either at the last district meeting or following that month's board meeting.
  
  All Lane Electric members can vote (by mail or at the meetings) on each director position regardless of the director district. In addition to the voting, reports are presented by the board president, the general manager and the manager, office & staff services on the prior year's operations, current challenges and evolving opportunities. There is also time provided so members present can ask questions of the board and staff.
  
  
• In 2007, 49 employees served 12,808 electric accounts over 1,456 miles of power lines, including 54 miles of energized transmission lines. Lane Electric had a gross plant value of $53,355,713 and $18,951,617 in electric operating revenues.
  
  
• Lane Electric is one of 18 rural electric cooperatives in the state of Oregon. Each of these cooperatives are members of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) which has approximately 850 cooperative members serving 36 million people in 47 states across the U.S. Lane Electric is also one of 16 member cooperatives of the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association (ORECA) specializing in electric cooperative issues in the State of Oregon.

Rick Crinklaw
General Manager
(541) 484-1151
rick.crinklaw@laneelectric.com

Ron Schwada
Manager, Office & Staff Services
(541) 484-1151
ron.schwada@laneelectric.com

Vester Sanders
Manager, Construction & Maintenance
(541) 484-1151
vester.sanders@laneelectric.com

David D'Avanzo
Manager of Member & Regional Affairs
(541) 484-1151
dave.davanzo@laneelectric.com

For general comments and questions, you may send email to comment.question@laneelectric.com. Or, you can call Lane Electric at (541)484-1151, fax us at (541)484-7316 or stop by our office at 787 Bailey Hill Road in Eugene from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday except for holidays. If you prefer to use the regular mail, our mailing address is:

Lane Electric Cooperative, Inc.
P. O. Box 21410
Eugene, Oregon 97402-0407

We also read and respond to any comments returned on the back of your electric bill.