Basin Electric department undergoes reorganization

Basin Electric’s Asset Management, Resource Planning, and Rates department underwent a reorganization effective Jan. 1.

This announcement was made following Dave Raatz, the department’s senior vice president, announced his intent to retire in early 2022. 

Becky Kern was promoted to vice president of Resource Planning and Rates, and Valerie Weigel was promoted to vice president of Asset Management and Commodity Strategy.

Kern joined Basin Electric in 2003 and progressed through various power supply engineer roles until being named manager of utility planning in 2012 and then director of long-term utility planning in 2014. 

Weigel began her career at Basin Electric as a student intern in 1998 and then as full-time employee in 2000 progressing through a series of accounting and financial analyst roles for Basin Electric and Dakota Gasification Company. In 2014, she made a shift in career paths from finance to asset marketing and became the manager of marketing and financial analytics. Her roles and responsibilities expanded until she was named director of asset management and commodity strategy in 2019.  Weigel has held leadership roles in three key recent Basin Electric initiatives: the urea project at Dakota Gasification Company, Basin Electric’s integration into the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) in 2015, and the integration into SPP’s Western Energy Imbalance Service market in 2021. She currently serves as the chair of the Western Markets Working Group and is a voting member of the SPP Working Group and SPP Improved Resource Availability Task Force. In the community she is the outgoing Chair of the Bismarck Mandan Chamber of Commerce.