EDMONTON, ALBERTA — (Marketwire) — 01/16/13 — Members of the Peace Country Rural Electrification Association (REA) have voted 78 per cent in favour of selling their electric distribution system to ATCO Electric. The sale vote is the result of an ATCO Electric purchase proposal requested by the Peace Country REA Board of Directors and membership.
The Peace Country REA is an amalgamation of 10 REAs in northwest Alberta, making it the third largest REA in the province. Members of the Peace Country REA will receive $20,742 for each electric site they own.
“ATCO Electric appreciates the confidence shown by the Peace Country REA membership by entrusting us with their system, which we have had the privilege of operating for the past 60 years,” said Bobbi Lambright, President, ATCO Electric Operations Division. “All ATCO Electric customers will benefit from having a single company own, operate and maintain the electric distribution system in this large area of Alberta.”
ATCO Electric has a long history of working with the REA–s Board of Directors to build, operate and maintain the REA–s electric distribution system. The membership–s decision to sell the system to ATCO Electric means that the company will continue to deliver these services to the membership.
“We will immediately begin working on obtaining all the necessary approvals,” said Ron Kiers, Manager, Northwest Region, ATCO Electric. “The first step is to meet with the Peace Country REA Board of Directors to finalize the sale agreement and to discuss the details of the transfer.”
The sale requires the approval of the Rural Utilities Division and the Alberta Utilities Commission. Once approved, members will receive their share of ATCO Electric–s purchase price and begin paying the ATCO Electric farm rate. The change will mean that 90 per cent of the Peace Country REA membership will pay lower monthly wires charges. All members will also pay lower up-front costs for the construction of new farm services.
A rural electrification association is a not-for-profit cooperative that owns an electrical distribution system and supplies electric energy to members in a rural region of Alberta.
ATCO Electric provides safe, reliable delivery of electricity to nearly 213,000 customers in 245 communities across Alberta and is part of the ATCO Group of Companies. ATCO Group, with more than 8,800 employees and assets of approximately $14 billion, delivers service excellence and innovative business solutions worldwide with leading companies engaged in structures & logistics (manufacturing, logistics and noise abatement), utilities (pipelines, natural gas and electricity transmission and distribution), energy (power generation, natural gas gathering, processing, storage and liquids extraction) and technologies (business systems solutions). More information can be found at .
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Contacts:
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