The Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association (MECA) represents 25 co-operatives across the state.
Once a year, directors, managers, and some employees come together from those co-operatives for a four-day meeting in Great Falls, which is where MECA is headquartered.
During these meetings there could be anything from training, to educating, talking issues, or to celebrating achievements with award ceremonies.
This is the 57th year for the MECA meeting, which had 225 attendees and will last through Thursday, October 4th. This year’s theme was Electric Co-Ops: Cornerstones of Communities.
Some examples of what goes on during the MECA meeting is: a legislature panel, two power industry experts from the region that talk about federal issues coming up that might affect power supply, plus CEO’s from North Dakota and Missouri come to compare steps and missteps.
Electric co-ops are a nonprofit owned by their members. Ryan Hall, MECA’s Communications Director said, “Every dollar that we spend goes back to the end of the line eventually. We’re here to get the best training and information we can, so we can do the best to provide safe, reliable, affordable power for our members.
Dave Wheelihan, CEO of MECA, added, “We’re more than just power providers. We contribute to communities, we are involved in communities, we donate money, time, volunteer work.”
