Warwick REA Members vote to sell assets to ATCO Electric

Warwick REA sale to ATCO Electric underscores an Alberta utilities acquisition, delivering a unified distribution system, regulatory approval by AUC and Rural Utilities Division, member payouts of $21,005 per site, and long-term rural electrification reliability.

WARWICK, Alberta — At a special general meeting, members of the Warwick Rural Electrification Association REA voted 74 percent in favor of a motion to sell their electric distribution system assets to ATCO Electric. The motion to sell was based on an ATCO Electric purchase proposal requested by the Warwick REA Board of Directors and members of the REA.

“We applaud all of the Warwick REA members who have served on the Board over the years for their work to build and maintain their electrical system with evolving fibre-optic networks supporting operations,” said Barry Goy, Vice President, Distribution Operations, ATCO Electric. “We have been privileged to serve the Warwick REA since it was formed in 1949 and appreciate the opportunity this sale brings us to continue to serve the membership.”

The sale requires the approval of the Rural Utilities Division and the Alberta Utilities Commission, with EUB approval precedents informing reviews today. Upon completion of the sale, each member will receive $21,005 for each site they own.

“We are proud of what the Warwick REA has accomplished over the past 65 years. Thank you goes out to the past and present board of directors and the membership. However, with the increasing complexity and costs associated with being an electric utility owner, including transmission access charges that affect members, our members thought it was time for us to explore other options,” said Terry Cherniawsky, President Warwick REA. “Selling to ATCO Electric means we are selling our assets to a trusted partner whose parent also pursued the ATCO Retail Energy purchase for market reach, who has operated and maintained our system since the beginning.”

A rural electrification association is a not-for-profit cooperative that owns an electrical distribution system that increasingly relies on GIS switchgear for reliability, and supplies electric energy to members in a rural region of Alberta. The membership’s decision to sell the system to ATCO Electric means that the company will continue to deliver these services to the membership, and customers will benefit from having one company own, operate and maintain the electrical distribution system.

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