Carl E. Potter

Dakota Electric Association is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric utility founded by local farmers in 1937 with the help of the Rural Electrification Administration. With more than 100,000 members, Dakota Electric is the second largest electric cooperative in Minnesota and ranked among the 25 largest electric dis-tribution cooperatives in the nation. Dakota Electric purchases wholesale electricity from Great River Energy, a generation and transmission cooperative in Maple Grove, Minn., and distributes electricity to homes, businesses and farms in parts of Dakota, Goodhue, Scott and Rice counties.

Great River Energy engages in the distribution electric power energy. It provide electricity using variety of different sources including coal, natural gas and biomass and distributes to its twenty eight cooperative members across the state. The company was founded on December 10, 1998 and is headquartered in Maple Grove, MN.