West River Electric Assn Inc

What This Utility Data Tells You

West River Electric Assn Inc is a member-owned electric cooperative operating in South Dakota under EIA identifier 20401. It reports service to approximately 20,260 customer accounts and generated about $0.04 billion in annual electric revenue, with a service footprint spanning 30 ZIP codes. Being member-owned, this cooperative answers to its ratepayers rather than outside shareholders, a structure that tends to influence how rate cases and capital spending get decided.

In 2023, the average West River Electric Assn Inc customer experienced 38.1 minutes of power interruptions, a measure known as SAIDI, or System Average Interruption Duration Index. That keeps this utility below the typical 120–180 minute national benchmark, consistent with a well-hardened distribution system and fast restoration crews. Over the same period, SAIFI (outage events per customer) was 0.46, putting the typical customer at roughly 0 distinct interruptions that year. Strip out major event days (hurricanes, ice storms) and SAIDI falls to 38.1 minutes; the difference from the headline 38.1 shows how much of the outage total came from weather rather than everyday grid issues.

West River Electric Assn Inc has 4 years of continuous EIA reporting on file (2020–2023), enough to read a real trend rather than a single-year snapshot. Over that span, SAIDI rose from 28.2 to 38.1 minutes, possibly reflecting tougher weather years or grid upgrades that have not caught up yet.