Winnie Adams, a member of the Orcas Power and Light Co-op’s board of directors, held a “Tea and Talk” in the Orcas Library conference room on March 23 and 24.

“So much has gone on so fast,” said Adams, regarding why she held the gathering.

The second day of the tea and talk brought an audience of 10 people. OPALCO employees Suzanne Olson, Theresa Haynie and Jay Kimble were also in attendance to help answer questions.

The largest concern attendees had was that the recent OPALCO rate increase was due to the acquisition of Rock Island. Adams made it clear that OPALCO and Rock Island operate as two separate entities with two budgets.

“The reason your bill went up is cost of service,” said Adams. “Whatever it costs us to serve your meter, you pay for.”

Adams explained another reason for the increase is compliancy with Bonneville Power Administration, where OPALCO buys energy to supply the islands.

“[An] industry that trundled along for decades without any changes had to speed up because of changes,” said Adams. She said that for many decades the electricity industry provided only electricity, but now is needing to adjust to the needs of a dependency on other technology.

Adams also addressed the false belief that OPALCO is operating at a gain of profits. She shared a graph showing that in the 1970s OPALCO was nearly 800 percent in debt, which it has paid off over the decades. It is now operating at less than 100 percent in the hole. Adams said co-ops can’t have a profit, and that OPALCO cannot collect money for future projects, but must take out loans to pay for them. The goal, she said, is to keep money in the pockets of the co-op members rather than in a bank.