Strong winds down trees and spur mutual aid response: Communities along the Lake Michigan shoreline bore the brunt of severe weather this past week, with widespread power outages reported in Manitowoc and Two Rivers during the late afternoon of Sunday, May 17. Straight-line winds caused extensive damage and brought down trees, poles, and power lines across the area. The large number of outages resulted in calls for mutual aid support to help safely restore power more quickly. At its peak, Two Rivers Utilities reported 3,500 of the utility’s 6,000 customers were without power. MEUW coordinated mutual aid crews from Gresham, Hartford, Kaukauna, Menasha, New Holstein, New London, Shawano, and Waupun to assist with restoration. Local media coverage included photos of the storm damage.
MEUW Executive Committee, Board of Directors changes: At the MEUW Annual Business Meeting held May 14 in Madison, the Board of Directors elected members of the association’s 2026-27 Executive Committee. Tim Aaby, Utility Manager of Rice Lake Utilities; Wes Arndt, Electric Superintendent of New Richmond Utilities; Steve Brooks, General Manager of Waupun Utilities; Brian Carroll, Operations Manager for the Village of Gresham; and Nick Kumm, General Manager of Marshfield Utilities, were elected to serve. The five-person Executive Committee elected officers for the coming year: Aaby will serve as Board Chair; Arndt is Vice Chair, and Brooks is Secretary/Treasurer.
Tim Herlitzka (Waunakee) and Mike Reynolds (Boscobel) were recognized at the meeting, as each is now retiring and leaving service on MEUW’s Board. Herlitzka completed 10 years as Secretary/Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee.
MEUW members in even-numbered districts recently voted to fill seats for two-year terms on the MEUW Board of Directors. Incumbent Directors and Alternate Directors in Districts 2, 4, 6, and 10 were re-elected. In District 8, Dan Koch (Argyle) was elected as Director, and Laura Weiskircher (Shullsburg) was elected Alternate Director.
Melanie Krause, General Manager of Menasha Utilities, was elected to a two-year term as At-Large Director, filling a vacancy created by Carroll’s election to the Executive Committee. The change means Michael Avanzi, General Manager of Kaukauna Utilities, will become District 4 Director. Brian Dellemann, Electric Utility Director for Two Rivers Utilities, was elected to join the Board as District 4 Alternate Director.
For a complete list of MEUW’s 2026-27 Board of Directors, click here.
Spots available in Regulation, Compliance & Safety class: With more than 100 specific rules utilities must follow to retain the “right-to-serve” electric customers, utilities are highly regulated businesses. Join this one-day class which helps explain why the rules exist and how to navigate the complexities of compliance — skills fundamental to success as a utility manager. Led by John Andres, an expert on utility regulation, and Melissa Barnes, a seasoned Human Resources Manager, participants will walk away from this class with a greater understanding of utility regulations and how to comply. You won’t want to miss this popular (and highly recommended) training that is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, in Mauston. Registration is open — sign up today!
Discover why Leading with Consistency is important: Spend a day this summer by focusing on your leadership skills. Learn how to lead with consistency and understand why consistency is essential to being an effective utility leader. The one-day class is being held on Wednesday, Aug. 5, in Mauston. Participants will take away practical ideas they can apply to become a consistent leader and learn how consistency can help to inspire people to work toward a common goal. Part of MEUW’s professional development programming, full details about the instructor and what you’ll learn are here.
Accounting and Customer Service Seminar set for September: This annual seminar brings together municipal electric utility staff to provide updates on regulatory and legislative issues that affect their utilities and provide best practices to improve their operations. MEUW’s Accounting & Customer Service Committee assists MEUW staff in putting together the day’s program to address timely topics and issues of importance to accounting, customer service, and utility billing personnel. This one-day seminar will be held in Mauston on Wednesday, Sept. 23. Additional details coming soon.
Annual U.S. Electricity Generation Capacity Report now available: The American Public Power Association (APPA) has released its annual report on electricity generation capacity in the United States. The report breaks down the current and imminent generation of electricity by type of fuel, location, and ownership type, and also looks at retirements, planned retirements, and cancellations since 2017. As of 2025, the U.S. has nearly 1.4 million megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. The largest fuel source is natural gas. Solar continues to be the main fuel type for new additions, with nearly 30,000 MW of solar energy added in 2025. Nearly 495,000 MW of new generation capacity is under development, with capacity additions outpacing the total capacity retired in 2025.
Contribute your experience to a key MEUW committee: We are currently looking to fill a vacancy on MEUW’s Accounting & Customer Service Committee. The primary role is to support MEUW staff in planning the annual Accounting and Customer Service Seminar (held in September) and other networking and training events and programs. While the opportunity to share expertise and insights is plentiful, the time commitment is minimal and involves only a handful of Teams calls each year. A listing of the current committee members is available here. Those individuals who may be interested are asked to submit a brief email that explains their background and the reason(s) they would like to be considered for a seat on the committee. Please direct questions to Sharon Wolf at (608) 837-2263. The deadline is noon on Monday, June 15.
MEUW Weekly schedule changes during summer: We will not distribute an e-newsletter every week during the summer. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, MEUW Weekly will be sent only once per month (on the third Tuesdays of June, July, and August). Meanwhile, MEUW’s monthly newsletter, Live Lines, will continue to be published on the first Tuesday of every month through the summer. Watch for the next issue of MEUW Weekly on June 16.