Great Lakes Energy Cooperative

“Great Lakes Energy is a Cooperative with all electric customers of the Cooperative required to be members.”

“Great Lakes Energy Cooperative is an electric cooperative utility. All members/consumers vote for candidates to fill the nine member Great Lakes Energy Board. An election is held annually. Board Directors serve three year terms and must be re-elected to serve longer than three years. Great Lakes Energy has nine districts with one Board Member from each district.”

“Certain bylaw changes must be ratified by the general membership. This ratification is voted upon in conjunction with the annual Board election.”

“The Great Lakes Energy Cooperative Board of Directors were provided with a questionnaire in June 2025 which was used to assist Management in completing pertinent sections of this 990. At a subsequent Board meeting, prior to filing, the Board reviewed the preliminary 990 and discussed specifices of the 990 return.”

“A questionnaire was delivered to each Board Member and Officers asking each to verify that they had received and read the policy and to certify they had no conflicts of interest. These certificates are on file with the supporting documentation for this 990. If there are any potential conflicts the CFO reviews if a conflict exists. During the discussion of a potential conflict, the individual with the potential conflict abstains from the discussion and voting on the potential confict.”

“Great Lakes Energy Cooperative contracts with a nationally recognized compensation consultant to determine salary levels for the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer along with certain others in the Company. The consultant performs an annual market survey and position evaluation utilizing comparative financial data for the industry and company size. The results are confidentially disclosed to the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Board sets the salary level for the CEO each year. The CEO, using the afore mentioned consultant, sets the salary level for the CFO each year.”

“Great Lakes Energy Cooperative makes company bylaws available to the public on line at www.gtlakes.com and with printed copies upon request. Audited financial statement summaries are mailed to members in Country Lines Magazine. They are also available upon request. Great Lakes Energy Cooperative does not make the conflict of interest policy available to the public.”

“Included in Part VII, column F, other compensation is the current year estimated increase in the actuarial value of the defined benefit plans received from the NRECA. These amounts do not represent any current year contributions expense to the plan by the Cooperative. Part IX, line 5 captures only the current year expense of the defined benefit plan of the Cooperative. Therefore, the compensation in Part IX, line 5 is less than that reported in Part VII.”

“The Cooperative is reimbursed for the hours provided by the officers and board members that serve on the related organization, Great Lakes Energy Connections, Inc.”

“The Cooperative has interpreted the instructions to Part IX, Line 4, to mean patronage capital allocated for the year, rather than patronage capital retired. This is consistent with the By-laws of the Cooperative.”

“Other Expenses: The salaries, pension, and payroll taxes reported on lines 5-10 are already included in distribution expense, administrative & general expense and customer expense. Therefore, these amounts are being subtracted out as an other deduction on line 24e in the amount of $(46,217,364).”

“Allocation of 2024 margins to members in 2025 18,450,398. Unrealized Gain/(Loss) on Interest Rate Swap -431,333. Sales Tax Refund 360,621. Undeliverable Retired Patronage 863,027. Non-cash Patronage Refunds -258,463. Changes in Equity of Subsidiary -3,296,793.”