MiEnergy Cooperative CEO received regional service award

MiEnergy Cooperative President and CEO Brian Krambeer has been recognized with the NRECA Regional Award for Outstanding Service, one of the highest honors in the nation’s cooperative network. The award was presented September 22 by Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), during the NRECA Regions 5/6 Meeting in Minneapolis, Minn.

The regional award is given to individuals who demonstrate an enduring commitment to cooperative values and a proven record of service to members. Krambeer has dedicated 40 years to the electric cooperative program, including 25 years leading MiEnergy.

Krambeer was jointly nominated by the boards of Minnesota Rural Electric Association and Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives. In his nomination letter, the boards highlighted Krambeer’s commitment to regional collaboration and organizational excellence.

The merger of Tri-County Electric Cooperative and Hawkeye REC to form MiEnergy was rooted in a vision to achieve enhanced effectiveness and improved efficiency for members of both cooperatives. It also successfully consolidated resources to better meet future energy needs and has served as a model for cooperative sustainability.

Beyond the merger, he led 12 electric cooperatives to form Southern Minnesota Energy Cooperative to purchase the Minnesota distribution assets of Alliant Energy. It marked the first time in electric cooperative history that such a large group of cooperatives successfully worked together to acquire the territory of an investor-owned utility, bringing 43,000 new members to the regional cooperative family.

Other key accomplishments during his career include:

• Pioneering a business model for non-profit cooperative ownership of community solar that helped advance renewable energy and reduce wholesale power costs.
• Hosting one of the first residential battery storage pilots.
• Becoming the first cooperative in Minnesota to apply new net metering standards after reaching a 4% penetration rate of distributed generation.
• Working with former Minnesota Representative Gene Pelowski to help the cooperative and their community recover from a devastating flood in 2007. It resulted in reforming Minnesota’s disaster relief laws, making money available quickly when the state needs to respond to a disaster.
• Overseeing the formation of MiBroadband to help bring high-speed internet to unserved and underserved rural areas in northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota.
• MiEnergy hosted the first rural Minnesota Cooperative Planning meeting with the Minnesota Public Utility Commission in 2022.

In the nomination letter, the boards stated, “Whether leading his team through the inspirational recovery of a major flood in 2007 or navigating large-scale utility acquisitions, his focus has always remained on the quality of life for the members and community.”