Directors | Employees | Principles  | History The membership is currently represented by 11 directors.  They and certain members of the staff, also sit on various other committees and boards to represent the interest of CAREA's membership.  Together with management we also have representatives attending meetings for Prairie Power Ltd., Quality Management Program (QMP), the Electrical Technical Safety Sub Committee, the Electrical Workers Safety Task Force, and the Alberta Electrical Utility Safety Association.

Your 2009 Board of directors are as follows:

Front Row - Left to Right: Claude Newsham,Doug Drozd, Jim Towle, Murray Ormberg , Ed Beniuk, Dave Wigmore,
Back Row - Left to Right: Joe Bowhay,Fred Lyczewski,Brian Turnbull, Glen Fox

Missing Willie Moran, CAREA employs a diverse group of people, each fulfilling a role within the company.  Our field staff consists of 19 people within various departments including Service, Vegetation and Construction.  These staff members help build and maintain your power distribution system to help ensure your power is reliable.  Within the office we have 20 staff in various departments including Accounting, Load Settlement, Planning & Design, Billing and Information Technology.  These employees are responsible for all the day to day goings-on of the company.  They handle many duties including, but not limited to, new services, pre-planned power outages, pole replacements, billing, arrears collection, AR/AP, load settlement, answering members questions and much, much more.

All of our employees work tirelessly to provide our members with the best possible service in the most economical manner possible.  We are continually striving to do our utmost to provide this to our members and will continue to do so in the future.

In the late 40's to reflect a cornerstone of democratic society, the Government established Rural Electrification Associations - divesting power to the citizens as providers of electricity to rural Albertans.  The Government provided the organizational structure, financing, oversight and ongoing consultation and assistance as a social policy to allow rural Albertans to benefit from an electrical utility system.

• At CAREA we have never, nor will we ever, put profit ahead of people.
• We work for ourselves and our community.
• We are directly responsible to our members and we are accountable for distribution within our service areas.
• We are an intervener in the regulatory process on behalf of our members.

At CAREA we believe we can survive the challenges placed before us by deregulation of the electrical industry.  We have and will continue to work with Government to ensure they understand the value that our REA plays in rural Alberta.

CAREA originated from the amalgamation of 5 smaller Rural Electrification Associations back in 1992 (Bowden REA, Little Red Deer REA, Penhold REA, Big Bend REA, and Ridgewood REA) to create a larger and more economical organization with 1800 members.  In 1996 two more REA's (Fallen Timber REA and Mountain View REA) joined the fold to bring the membership total to 2600.  In 1997 another two REA's (Beiseker REA and Irricana REA) merged with CAREA, thus bringing the membership to 3100.  Amalgamation continued to highlight CAREA's growth in 1999 as another two REA's (Blackfalds REA and Lacombe REA) were added to the organization to bring the total number of REA's to 11 and the total membership to 4100.  Another union was completed in 2000 with Blindman Valley REA, which brought our membership to over 5000.  Now, in 2003, we have over 5200 members.  In June 2004 we finalized our amalgamation with Yellowhead REA which brings our total membership to 7100 members and counting.   In May of 2005 we finalized our amalgamation with Sion REA, bringing our total membership to 7650 members!  With all these amalgamations come economies of scale that benefit the membership by spreading the costs of running our electrical system over more services and lowering the per service costs.

The original amalgamation occurred in order to hire the staff to enable us to start overseeing the operation of our system.   In 1992 we started to scrutinize the work that was being done by TransAlta Utilities on our behalf, who were acting as our agent.  In 1993 we took control of our deposit reserve accounts, hired a contractor to build any new construction (work orders were closed by TransAlta Utilities), did our own pole testing, and were able to complete a small pole replacement.  1994 saw us doing our own new construction on an actual cost basis, allowing us to close our own work orders, do a larger pole replacement, upgrade transformers and do breaker changes.

Our agreement with TransAlta Utilities came up for renegotiation in 1995, and we spent 2 ½ years along with other REA's in the Province renegotiating a new agreement that allowed us the opportunity to take over operational control of our system.  The new Electric Utilities Act also came into effect on January 1, 1995 and this was the beginning of deregulation.

We completed the contract negotiations in 1997 with the signing of the new contract with TransAlta Utilities.  By signing the C option of the new contract, we became a fully operational and independent electrical utility which included all facets of our business, including billing.

We have been involved in the restructuring of the electrical industry, due to deregulation, since 1998, and we continue to grow in size due to the construction of new services and amalgamation.  In 2000 we formed a business corporation, Prairie Power Ltd, with several other operating REA's in the province in order to be able to obtain the energy we need to supply our own Regulated Rate Option (RRO).  By getting together we are aggregating a larger load which is more attractive to wholesale energy providers.  Prairie Power seeks out and purchases power at the most economical rates on behalf of all the companies partnering with it.

We continue to try to find ways to keep the cost of power down for our membership while proactively looking to the future for better ways to serve our members.  After all, the only reason we exist is to provide a better service for our members and save them money.

Here is a look back at how things have changed over the years with the REA.  Thanks to Brian Turnbull for providing us with this historic look at the utility hook up on his family farm in 1952.

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