East River Electric Power Cooperative hosts 2025 joint board meeting with Basin Electric

Joint board meetings allow Basin Electric’s Board of Directors to meet with members at the local level and provide insight into members’ needs. At the same time, they allow members the opportunity to learn about issues Basin Electric deals with outside of their membership. 

This year, the Basin Electric board and staff traveled to Madison, South Dakota, where East River Electric Power Cooperative (East River) hosted the June meeting. Wayne Peltier, Basin Electric board president, welcomed everyone to the meeting, followed by Todd Brickhouse, Basin Electric CEO and general manager, who provided an overview of Basin Electric and the cooperative’s strategic focus on rates and large loads. The meeting continued with a financial update given by Chris Johnson, Basin Electric senior vice president and chief financial officer. 

East River Board President, Alan Vedvei, and CEO and General Manager Bob Sahr provided an overview of their cooperative. Chris Studer, East River chief member and public relations officer, shared an overview of Federated Services. 

“The East River and Basin Electric teams regularly work together on a wide variety of subjects,” Brickhouse said. “It was good to bring our teams and boards together for an in-person series of meetings where we could enjoy each other’s company on personal and business levels. East River was a gracious host, and we are grateful for the hospitality they extended to Basin Electric.” 

After the meeting, the boards and staff toured Deer Creek Station in Elkton and visited the campus of South Dakota State University in Brookings. There, the group had the option to tour the Daktronics Engineering Hall or the Raven Precision Agricultural Center. The tours were followed by a social and dinner at the SDSU Alumni Foundation.