Annual Meeting & Oregon’s 83rd Legislative Assembly
Dear Member,
You are invited to the Douglas Electric Cooperative (DEC) Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 4, at the Community Conference Hall at Douglas County Fairgrounds. Registration opens at 9 a.m., and the business meeting starts at 10:30 a.m.
This year, your DEC directors are running unopposed: Suzi Armstrong, District 3; Darrin Dailey, District 4 (replacing Bob Poage, who is retiring); and Bill Jackson, District 5. Ballots will be available at the annual meeting and at our member services counter in Roseburg. You may also call us at 541-673-6616, and we can mail a ballot to you.
Once the business portion wraps up, we’ll hold drawings for door prizes, serve lunch, and invite you to visit the booths. You can chat with your DEC member services representatives and staff, and visit with fellow co-op members. We hope you’ll join us to learn more about DEC and connect with your community.
The conversations we have together at the annual meeting don’t stop at the fairgrounds. They help guide the work we do all year on your behalf. That includes representing Douglas Electric members at the state level, where decisions made in Salem can directly affect you.
The Oregon Legislature wraps up its session this month after several weeks of debate over state budgets, transportation funding, and energy policy. Throughout the session, representatives from Oregon’s electric cooperatives were in Salem every day, making sure the interests of rural members like you were part of the conversation.
The session included a robust discussion about legislation requiring the Oregon Department of Energy to study the state’s long-standing ban on nuclear power generation. Multiple studies have concluded that resources are not being built fast enough to keep pace with the projected increase in electricity demand in the Pacific Northwest over the next decade, raising concerns that we could face blackouts. Oregon’s electric co-ops support an ODOE study, so the state can make an informed decision on the future of nuclear energy based on the best possible data and science.
While we raised awareness about the importance of federal hydropower for millions of Oregonians, several bills addressed residential solar technologies. Here at Douglas Electric, we want to be sure that when our members invest in solar energy, they get a product that meets their needs and ensures their safety, and that of our employees. This is why we support legislation that promotes access to emerging solar technologies, focuses on safety, and protects our members from misleading contractual agreements.
With wildfire season right around the corner, we stressed the need for lawmakers to consider the financial liability we face when wildfires happen. While no legislation was passed this session, the Oregon Public Utility Commission announced a comprehensive study to better balance wildfire mitigation responsibility, member costs, and fair compensation when fires occur. We look forward to this report before the 2027 legislative session.
We appreciate the efforts of our legislators and will continue working with them to protect what matters most to our members in Douglas County: safe, reliable, and affordable electricity.
Sincerely,
General Manager Keith Brooks