Ray B. Nicolai

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.