Basin Electric CEO and General Manager Todd Telesz tours generation facilities

When Todd Telesz took the position of Basin Electric’s sixth-ever CEO and general manager, he committed to visiting Basin Electric’s plant sites over the course of his first year on the job. That goal is now well underway after visiting Antelope Valley Station near Beulah, North Dakota, and Leland Olds Station in Stanton, North Dakota, in March.

Telesz toured both facilities and met with employees, updating them on what Basin Electric is doing to cushion its members from price volatility, the importance of reliability to the membership, why having a strong credit rating matters, and the importance of safety at the plants. He also expressed his appreciation to employees for their role in helping keep costs down at the plants. “Your cost savings efforts are noticed and reinforces our commitment to being good stewards of our memberships’ assets and capital,” Telesz said. “The work employees do to help with this helps keep electricity affordable, which is critically important to our members.”

Telesz was accompanied by Troy Tweeten, Basin Electric senior vice president of Operations; Chris Baumgartner, Basin Electric senior vice president of Member Services and Administration; and Valerie Weigel, Basin Electric vice president of Asset Management and Commodity Strategy. The team was on hand to answer questions from employees on a variety of issues.

Telesz also visited Laramie River Station near Wheatland, Wyoming, the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, North Dakota, and the Freedom Mine in November 2021. He returned to the Synfuels Plant in March for an all-employee meeting about the potential sale of the Great Plains Synfuels Plant to Bakken Energy. He plans to travel to the cooperative’s other facilities in the near future.