Message From Operations: Reflecting on 2025

MESSAGE FROM OPERATIONS: REFLECTING ON 2025

Roughrider Electric Cooperative's service area continues to grow, from Beulah Bay to Medora, keeping crews busy. We completed the 2025 workplan projects along with new services and addressed some additional incidents. Here are a few projects our crews worked on to ensure safe and reliable electric service to you, our members.

Pole testing 

Utility pole testing was conducted earlier this year. Pole testing allows us to identify poles that are unsound and replace them before they begin to fail. As of October, 10,316 utility poles have been tested, with 452 of them needing to be replaced. The replacement process continues and should be completed by summer of 2026.

Underground conversion 

This year, Roughrider Electric installed over 70 miles of underground distribution cable. One construction project included replacing 14 miles of underground line from the Knutson Substation, north of Medora to the city of Medora and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. In the Hazen area, overhead distribution lines crossing highways were replaced with underground cable. This allows the large equipment to safely travel highways in this area. Converting to underground cable allows for additional safety and reliability to our system.

New transmission line installation

Roughrider Electric installed various miles of transmission line this year. One project included 13 miles of new 115 Kilovolt transmission line constructed from our Snowy River Substation, north of South Heart to our Knife River Substation, north of Manning. 

Substation maintenance

Throughout 2025, Roughrider Electric conducted maintenance and upgrades in various substations across the service territory. Updates were made to the aging infrastructure, and additional improvements were made to ensure reliability throughout the service area. 

New services

Our service area continues to grow as economic development projects progress in various areas. To date, we have added 139 new services to our system. A few projects that Roughrider Electric has provided service to include projects in and around the city of Medora. These projects include the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library as well as lodging and venue space. Additional expansion in our area includes housing developments in the Dickinson and Beulah Bay areas. We have also added numerous grain bin drying services throughout our territory. 

Storm restoration

Throughout the summer our system endured various hail, high winds and thunderstorm conditions which impacted our infrastructure. We lost several transmission poles in the Schefield area near Dickinson due to a tornado and a few distribution poles around Center in June. As North Dakota endured winter and summer storms, crews were also sent to assist neighboring cooperatives who were impacted by the various weather events throughout the year.

Safety remains our top priority at Roughrider Electric. We would like to thank our members, contractors, and staff for their contributions to ensuring a safe and productive 2025. As we continue through the remainder of the year, we want to encourage you to report outages by calling the office at 1-800-748-5533. Thank you for your support throughout 2025 and we look forward to ensuring safe and reliable electric services for you all in 2026!