Les Penning, Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative CEO, presented at Rotary on Tuesday August 8, 2017. As the new chief officer at OTEC, Mr. Penning has the role of not only managing the cooperative but projecting a future for the industry. There are many variables that he outlined that will be challenges for the cooperative including managing the ability to fund the ongoing costs of delivery systems, adopting new technologies that will diversify electric generation sources, and stemming the ever-increasing cost of using externally supplied electricity. One example of the complexity of the industry involved California in the equation. OTEC receives its electricity from Bonneville Power Administration at a wholesale cost because they are able to sell excess power o California. OTEC benefits from this sale and is subsidized by the higher rate that Californians pay for power. California, however, is adding solar panels on homes at a rate that of 100 megawatts per month–reducing their need for electricity and thereby reducing revenues to Bonneville. Ultimately, this means a rate hike for OTEC users!