Infrastructure built on cooperative strength

August 18, 2025, was a historic day for Basin Electric. Pioneer Generation Station Phase IV (PGSIV) became fully operational, and we began initial site grading for Bison Generation Station. Together, these generation stations will increase our dispatchable generation by more than 40%.

Congratulations go to the PGSIV project team, who can take great satisfaction and pride in a job well done. Their hard work resulted in the successful completion of this 580-megawatt (MW), $805 million project on schedule and under budget. These investments, like every investment we make at Basin Electric, are consistent with our mission and obligation to our members to provide reliable and affordable power produced in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. Electricity is the foundation that powers family homes, businesses, farms, and industries across our region. That’s why infrastructure investment matters – it ensures we can continue to meet today’s needs while preparing for tomorrow.

Building for tomorrow, balancing costs today

The need for new infrastructure has never been greater. National electricity sales have grown by about 1% annually this century, while our members’ unit sales have increased more than 5% per year. Meeting that demand requires thoughtful planning and significant investment, all while navigating higher costs for materials, workforce challenges, and regulatory requirements.

To meet this demand and satisfy our obligation to our members, Basin Electric is undertaking one of the most ambitious capital build-out plans in our history. Our ten-year capital expenditure forecast has grown from $1.4 billion in 2020 to nearly $11 billion today. Such growth and investment require careful balancing between engineering, reliability, affordability, and financial considerations.

As evidenced by PGSIV and the substantial number of transmission projects completed this past year, we are making remarkable progress putting steel in the ground. With that progress, however, comes significant costs. These investments are essential to keep our system reliable, and to fund these investments today, our rates are somewhat higher than they otherwise would be. The infrastructure we benefit from today is the result of similar prudent investments made years and even decades ago, so balancing reliability and affordability is nothing new for Basin Electric. At the same time, we are maintaining our strong financial profile, which allows us to fund these investments cost-effectively.

Mitigating risk, empowering communities

Today’s headlines are filled with stories about the technology industry’s insatiable need for electricity, whether it be artificial intelligence, social media, or cloud computing. This has led to a common misconception: that our capital expenditure growth is being driven by data center demand. While we currently serve roughly 300 MW of data centers, our large capital investments are driven by traditional member load.

As requests for service grew from 25 to hundreds and eventually to thousands of megawatts, we recognized the need to develop a business model to serve these loads. Accordingly, we spent the first half of 2025 developing a large load business model with our members. This model shifts much of the development, financing, and operational risk from Basin Electric and our members to the large loads themselves, thereby insulating our members from additional rate pressure, stranded assets, and other risks.

When we talk about infrastructure, it is easy to think only of steel, concrete, power lines, and the dollars and cents to pay for them. But at Basin Electric, we know these projects are about more than what gets built in the ground — they are about people. The electrons Basin Electric produces are the raw materials of a modern economy, empowering communities and enabling people to pursue their varied work, business, and personal interests. Reliable and affordable energy is a key building block of higher standards of living, allowing our members to thrive.