Operation Round Up^® program cancelled

The Board of Directors of Corn Belt Energy Corporation has taken action to cancel its Operation Round Up^® program. The program, which was announced in November but had not started, rounds up member’s bills to the next dollar with the rounded up portion to be used to fund donations for nonprofit organizations. No funds have been collected from any member.

After listening to the membership, the board feels the decision to cancel the program is in the best interest of the cooperative and its members. While they believe the concept is positive and that there are many needs for contributions in the communities and areas that we serve, they admit the implementation mechanism of the program caused concern with many members and created a negative perception about the grant portion of the program. All members were automatically participants of the program but could “opt out.”  Many members expressed that participation should be completely voluntary.

Jeff Reeves, President and CEO of Corn Belt Energy said “Operation Round Up^® was an excellent opportunity to do a lot of good in our service territory but in retrospect the reality is that the implementation was negative to many of our members. Today we are responding to our membership by cancelling the Operation Round Up^® program.”

Corn Belt Energy, founded in 1935, is a member-owned electric cooperative headquartered in Bloomington. It serves over 32,000 members in 18 counties in central and north central Illinois.