Bismarck, N.D. (AP) An electric cooperative in North Dakota is cutting its 6,000 members bills after a good business year.
Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative is paying up to $286 worth of members' electric bills for three months. The first discount is reflected in the statements that were mailed at the end of November.
Dennis Hill is executive vice president of the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives. Hill says when a cooperative takes in money that goes beyond its expenses, the group may decide to pay back that margin to its members.
Mountrail-Williams Spokeswoman Jessica Martin says the cooperative has seen megawatt usage rise to 300 megawatts, compared to less than 100 megawatts before the state's oil boom began. A decade ago the usage was about 30 megawatts.