DISTRICT 1
Mark Nyberg
TOWNSHIPS OF HILL, RIB LAKE, SPIRIT & TOMAHAWK
Mark was elected to the PEC board in 2019. Mark works as a substitute teacher and a Christmas tree grower with Nyberg Tree Farm.
He belongs to the Wisconsin Christmas Tree Growers Association, is president of the First Lutheran Church in Ogema and is a member of the Spirit Historical Association
Mark lives in the Town of Spirit.
DISTRICT 2
Joan Points
TOWNSHIPS OF CATAWBA, GEORGETOWN, HAWKINS, KENNAN, OGEMA & WESTBORO
Joan has served on the PEC Board since 2017 and presently serves as Secretary-Treasurer.
Joan is the administrative coordinator at Forest Springs and works as a private piano instructor. She previously worked as the financial secretary at Forest Springs.
Joan is a former treasurer, clerk, and president of the Rib Lake School board. She has been a member of the Woodland Community Church in Westboro for 39 years and the accompanist for the Community Ecumenical Choir for 8 years.
Joan and her husband live in Westboro.
DISTRICT 3
Ed Hainy
TOWNSHIPS OF EMERY, HACKETT, KNOX, LYNNE, PRENTICE, SOMO, & WILSON
Ed has served as a PEC Director since 2004. Ed served as Chair for 10 years and presently serves as Vice-Chair.
Ed is a dairy farmer and spends time hunting, woodworking, metalworking, logging, baking, and doing mechanic work.
Ed currently serves as the Town of Hackett chairman and is a Price County Equity Cooperative board member. He previously held a seat on the Price County Town Insurance board.
Ed and his wife live in the Town of Hackett.
DISTRICT 4
Randy Kunsch
TOWNSHIP OF WORCESTER
Randy has served as a PEC Director since 2012 and presently serves as Chair.
Randy is retired after being employed for 39 years as a public-school teacher in the State of Wisconsin with the last 28 of those years in Phillips.
He is a parish member of Our Lady of the North, a former Knight of Columbus, and a retired Wisconsin Education Association member.
Randy and his wife live in the Town of Worcester.
DISTRICT 5
Mitch Meives
TOWNSHIPS OF ELK, HARMONY & WINTER
Mitch was elected to the PEC board in 2021.
Mitch manages Carpenter Creek Farms and is a welding instructor at Northcentral Technical College (NTC). Previously, he was a dairy farmer for 22 years.
Mitch also volunteers at his church, with NTC’s Get Smart Youth Program and with the 4-H Club.
Mitch and his family live in the Town of Elk.
DISTRICT 6
Karen Newbury
TOWNSHIPS OF CHIPPEWA, FLAMBEAU, LAKE & SHANAGOLDEN
Karen has served as a PEC Director since 2015. Karen also serves on the Dairyland Power Cooperative and Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association boards on behalf of Price Electric.
Karen and her sister have owned and operated Kountry Kafe & Katering in Fifield since 1995.
She has served on the Education Committee for St. Anthony’s School, as a Board Member on the Price County Tavern League and is the current treasurer for the Butternut Trail Midgets ATV Club. She is a certified ATV safety instructor and teaches a safety class each spring.
Karen and her husband live in the Town of Lake.
DISTRICT 7
Bob Hennes
TOWNSHIPS OF EISENSTEIN & FIFIELD
Bob was elected to the PEC board in 2020.
Now retired, Bob served in many capacities in his 41 years of federal service including District Ranger for the U.S Forest Service overseeing National Forest lands in Price and Taylor counties. He also served on national incident management teams responsible for the emergency response to large wildfires and hurricanes across the U.S. He helped develop/implement the U.S. Forest Service Middle Leadership Development Program and worked as a consultant after retirement. He is a member of the Park Falls Area Community Development Corporation and Park Falls Lions. He frequently serves as a pianist for local congregations.
Bob and his wife live in the Town of Fifield.
DISTRICT 8
Scott Haggard
TOWNSHIPS OF LAC DU FLAMBEAU, MINOCQUA & SHERMAN
Scott was elected to the PEC board in 2022.
Now retired, Scott served in the U.S. Air Force as a telemetry analyst and later earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. He finished his career working as a network engineer for a major communications equipment manufacturer.
Scott is active in his community as a member of the Wisconsin Lakes Association, Wisconsin American Legion Post 89, and Air Force Association. Scott is an avid backpacker and has backpacked over 1800 miles of the 2650 mile long Pacific Crest Trail.
Scott and his wife live near the town of Lac Du Flambeau.
DISTRICT 9
Matt Christianson
TOWNSHIPS OF AGENDA, GORDON, JACOBS, MERCER, MORSE & PEEKSVILLE
Matt was elected to the PEC board in 2020.
Now retired, Matt started out as a radar technician in the U.S. Army and afterwards worked as electronic technician for Nicolet Instrument in Madison and lead technician at the Navy’s ELF Transmitter Site in Clam Lake. Matt finished his career at Flambeau River Papers in Park Falls as an industrial electrician.
Matt coached Little League and Babe Ruth baseball leagues. He is a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Glidden and of the Glidden VFW Post 7300.
Matt and his wife live in the Town of Jacobs.
Directors are elected for 3-year terms and must be a member of Price Electric Cooperative and a bona fide resident of the district he or she is to represent. This means that the member’s legal domicile or primary residence is in the district for which they would be director. This is determined by the address on your driver’s license and your voter registration.
They cannot be employed by or financially interested in a competing enterprise or business selling energy services or supplies to Price Electric.
While serving as director or at any time in the three years preceding election or appointment:
- They shall not have been employed by Price Electric or any entity controlled by Price Electric or was convicted of any felony or of any other offense involving a breach of trust.
- They shall not have pursued any litigation or claim against Price Electric or any of its employees or directors,
- And shall not have been in default on any obligation owed to Price Electric.
A director must be willing to abide by board policies regarding director duties and responsibilities.
Attendance is required at monthly meetings at PEC office, usually the last Thursday of the month. The meetings start at 9:00 a.m.
The function of the director is to establish policies for the cooperative, but they do not oversee the day-to-day operations of the cooperative.
It is necessary to become knowledgeable of the issues in the rapidly changing electric utility industry. It is a director’s duty to understand current issues and how they can affect the operation of the cooperative.
A director must be accessible to members as they are accountable to the members who elect them and should be willing to answer questions and discuss concerns brought up by members.
Training seminars are available to improve understanding of cooperative business procedures and duties of directors. Some courses may lead to Credentialed Cooperative Director and Board Leadership Certificates.
Directors may attend the district and annual meetings of affiliated cooperatives such as the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association and Dairyland Power Cooperative.
The Director fixed fee is $250.00 per meeting plus a travel adder and mileage. Travel, lodging and meal expenses for out of town meetings are reimbursed at actual expenditures.
Directors are elected at the annual meeting. All members present can vote in each district that is having an election. There is one vote for each membership.
"Our mission is to provide access to safe, reliable, and affordable electric services."
Price Electric Cooperative exists today because in the 1930's only ten percent of rural America had electric service. The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created to provide low cost money to finance the electrification of rural areas by the federal government in 1935. Investor owned utilities were not interested in rural areas even with low cost money, so Rural Electric Cooperatives (REC's) were formed by farmers and other rural people to bring electricity to the countryside.
As a member of Price Electric Cooperative, you are a part of a unique business that is owned and controlled by the people it serves. The question asked most often by member/owners of Price Electric Cooperative is "Why are our rates higher than others?" Rates charged for electric service are always of concern. Because we operate in rural areas and have relatively low usage consumers, we cannot keep our rates as low as the investor owned utilities which serve the population centers in this area. Price Electric serves approximately 4.9 meters per mile of line compared to an average of 31 meters per mile for investor owned utilities. Their consumer base allows them to spread their expenses per mile over six times more meters, resulting in lower rates. We must continue to operate as efficiently as possible to keep our rates affordable for rural residents.