Susitna River Coalition
MEA Co-op Elections
What is the Matanuska Electric Association (MEA)?
The Matanuska Electric Association was established in 1941 making it the first electric association in Alaska. Today, more than 75,000 members make up the ownership of MEA which serves the communities of Eagle River, Chugiak, Birchwood, and Eklutna in addition to the Mat-Su Borough. MEA’s service area covers approximately 4,600 miles of power lines in Southcentral Alaska. If you pay electricity bills to MEA, you are one of these member-owners of the electric co-op!
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Why is it important to know that MEA is a co-op?
As a member-owner of MEA, you have the ability to participate in the decision-making process of your utility co-op. The benefit of being part of the co-op is that you can vote for members of the Board of Directors and key By-law changes, which is what governs MEA. You can also attend the monthly board meetings in person or on Zoom to keep up with monthly updates and voice your opinion.
The MEA board of directors work closely with the CEO to provide reliable and affordable electricity, and make decisions that can change how and where we get our power from. The board of directors is made up of four district based representatives and three directors at-large who are elected at the spring annual members meeting and serve four year terms.
What MEA means to the SRC Community
It is important to elect MEA board members who support expanding collaboration along the railbelt, speaking out against wasteful projects such as the Susitna-Watana Dam, and increasing engagement from member-owners like you! MEA plays a large role in the Railbelt Reliability Council (RRC) which is an effort between electric associations from Fairbanks to Homer to share power and innovation ideas.
Energy innovation is great but projects such as the Susitna-Watana Dam have shown us that we need responsible board members advocating for clean energy alternatives (wind, solar, small-scale hydro, geothermal) on the MEA board and the RRC. That is why the Susitna River Coalition has launched a program to engage member-owners of MEA across the 4,600 miles of powerline to get out and vote for good candidates in the MEA board elections every spring.
Annual Elections Timeline
Each year in early February, community members who are interested in applying for candidacy on the MEA board must submit application to MEA that is then reviewed by the election committee. Approved candidates are generally announced at the beginning of March.
Once the candidates have been released MEA hosts a candidate forum online via Zoom where members can submit questions and hear more about candidate initiatives. Ballots become available online through member's SmartHub accounts until late April. The election in 2025 is the last time that MEA members will receive a mail ballot withouth requesting it from MEA. After 2025 members who would like a paper ballot will be required to request one from MEA.
At the end of April MEA hosts their Annual Membership Meeting in Palmer where updates are provided by MEA, voting closes, and election results are announced.
