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2023 Highlights
- We installed our first 480 of 174,000 advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) meters. We began full meter deployment in February 2024 and expect to complete advanced meter installations for all customers throughout our service area by early 2025.
- Our Foundation gave $667,440 in donations to local organizations and our employees reported more than 2,800 volunteer hours through our Power of Two program.
- The Minnesota Safety Council awarded us the 2023 Minnesota Governor’s Workplace Safety Silver Award for safety and health excellence.
- We were one of ten Otter Tail County businesses to participate in a talent tourism rural workforce recruitment pilot program.
Customer experience
Our focus on customers is demonstrated through our projects, plans, and day-to-day work.
We request input on customers’ needs and expectations through surveys, focus groups, and direct contacts, analyzing this information to better improve their experience with us.
In August 2023 we made significant updates to our website, including a new My Account portal for customers. The new My Account portal features a customizable view, self-service capabilities, interactive usage information, notification options, a streamlined process to view and pay bills, and more.
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is a technology upgrade that lays the groundwork for us to better meet customers’ needs for reliable service. Long term, AMI helps us keep costs low (savings we pass along to our customers) and will provide insight into new on- or off-peak rate options that can help customers save money. We began installing advanced meters in late 2023 and plan to finish upgrading approximately 174,000 electric meters with meters that enable two-way communication with our systems by early 2025.
Rates
From investments in new technologies and infrastructure upgrades to programs that help customers conserve energy at home, we’re focused on delivering safe, reliable energy at rates among the lowest in the nation.
While we’ve selected cost-effective technology, infrastructure, and program options to meet customer needs, they still come with a price. Without knowing the full extent of future external influences, such as inflation, we anticipate all customers averaged together will see electric bills increase less than 3 percent annually. We base our cost-change requests to the commissions in the states we serve on forecasted and historical data, and any increases will vary by state, year, and size.
In November we filed a request to increase our rates with the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC). We last filed for a base rate increase in North Dakota in 2017, and our request is a result of increased costs to maintain a safe and reliable system while meeting growing electricity demand. Changes in our company’s customer mix also contributed to the timing of this request.
While the PSC considers our overall request, in December 2023 the PSC approved our request to implement interim rates on January 1, 2024. With the approval of interim rates, North Dakota customers had an average net increase of 6.03 percent on their monthly electric service statements.
We recognize our customers’ costs have gone up in many parts of their lives. While we’ve successfully managed expenses and continue to choose low-cost options to meet our customers’ needs, the cost of providing service is more than we can recover through our current base rates. Reviewing and updating our rates through rate cases allows us to continue to cost-effectively provide the reliable electricity our customers depend on.
Tim Rogelstad, President
Volunteerism and donations
We continue our tradition of giving to and caring for the communities we serve.
In 2023 the Otter Tail Power Company Foundation gave $667,440 to strengthen our communities through projects and organizations focused on education; health and human services; community, civic, and cultural development; and environmental stewardship. These donations helped local organizations provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics labs; scholarships; automatic external defibrillators; mentorship programs; accessible playgrounds; food and resources; and much more.
Our Power of Two program, funded by our Otter Tail Power Company Foundation, encourages employees to be active in their communities, volunteering their time to their favorite nonprofit organizations. Any employee who contributes a minimum of 24 hours of personal volunteer time to a qualifying nonprofit organization is eligible for one $250 donation made payable to that organization. Our employees reported more than 2,800 volunteer hours in 2023 and our Foundation contributed $22,250 to nonprofit organizations they served.
Learn more about our Foundation
Community collaborations
We’re working with schools and organizations to help children learn more about energy generation, new electric technologies, and efficient energy use.
We’ve provided support to Otter Cove Children’s Museum in Fergus Falls. Discover Energy is a monthly Saturday morning program for children ages four to ten with activities promoting renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power. Interactive exhibits include a wind farm, wind turbine, water current racing, and a hydroelectric dam model. In 2023 approximately 22 children participated in Discover Energy.
At Bemidji’s Headwaters Science Center, we provided funding in 2023 for a trout and lizard aquarium display. In addition to the 7,431 children visiting this display in 2023, the staff has a mobile demonstration that traveled to an area school with future school visits planned.
Heat Pumps 101 introduces eighth- and ninth-grade students throughout our service area to the science of high-efficiency heat pumps. Our presentation includes interactive demonstrations, animations, and a small working heat pump demonstration module and provided 112 students in 2023 with a fun, hands-on learning experience.
Safety
We provide safe working conditions, extensive safety training, and appropriate protective equipment to make sure our employees return home safe and healthy after every day of work.
We have approximately 375 employees working in the field and at our power plants who participate in monthly safety meetings, job briefings, and other training opportunities to discuss safe work practices. Approximately 425 employees companywide are trained in CPR and first aid.
This year we ran a summer safety series in which we shared information and tips throughout the season with employees companywide. Topics ranged from how to prevent heat-related illnesses to highlighting the National Safety Council’s First Aid app as a life-saving resource.
From safety around electrical equipment to preparing for severe weather and tree trimming, we provide public safety information to customers in a variety of ways.
The Minnesota Safety Council awarded us the 2023 Minnesota Governor’s Workplace Safety Silver Award for safety and health excellence. We earned this award by achieving incidence rates better than the 50th percentile of both the state and national averages for the previous three years.
Supporting our people
We’re passionate about continuing to be a great place to work.
In 2023 we added a maternity leave policy to provide non-union employees who give birth with six to eight weeks (based on delivery type) of paid leave without using sick leave they’ve earned. In addition, we added paid parental leave of up to 80 hours available for use within three months of a baby’s birth and hospital release or when a legally adopted child joins the family. We also updated our vacation policies to better serve our employees by significantly shortening intervals for accruing paid time off.
The South Dakota American Legion presented the Employer of Veterans Award to Big Stone Plant in 2023. To qualify for this recognition, at least 10 percent of the nominee’s workforce must be veterans. Big Stone Plant was one of a few medium-sized employers (51 to 200 employees) nominated by local Birch-Miller Post 9.
Recruiting
We provide recruitment materials, including our Powerful Possibilities career guide, to educational institutions and other entities as outreach to potential employees, highlighting jobs in customer service, engineering, and plant and field operations.
To increase awareness and understanding of what it means to have a career as a lineworker, in May we invited high school students from our service area to experience a day on site with our Apprentice Lineworkers. During their time with us, students gained a better understanding of the industry and how to launch their careers while also experiencing a glimpse of the many important skills lineworkers must have.
This day with our Apprentice Lineworkers can make a future career feel real to students who are still determining what they want to do after high school. We heard a lot of positive feedback from both teachers and students about the day.
Katherine Worwa, Talent Management Manager
Our Otter Tail Power Company Foundation partners with post-secondary institutions to provide industry-related scholarships. In 2023 we assessed our current and past scholarship agreements and re-outlined scholarship requirements and amounts to better match Foundation goals to invest in our current and future workforce. Beginning in 2024 for all scholarships provided by the Foundation, students must be enrolled full time and demonstrate financial need. Recognizing financial stress can contribute to lower academic performance as students try to balance both school and jobs, we require students who receive a scholarship maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA as we work to provide support to students who need it. Additionally, preference must be given to students who are from our company’s service area and seeking a career in the power industry, including linework, plant technologies, and renewables.