Quick Fact: OPALCO General Manager / CEO Compensation

General Manager compensation is determined by OPALCO’s Board of Directors through a structured, documented process. Each year, the Board conducts a formal written performance evaluation based on the Board’s Strategic Directives and supported by operational, financial, safety, and planning documentation. Board members evaluate performance across safety, reliability, financial stewardship, workforce leadership, member service, communications, regulatory engagement, and subsidiary oversight. Some of the various metrics can be found here:

• Performance using the cooperative’s Strategic Directives & OPALCO Policy 2,
• Year in Review,
• Rock Island Communications financials,
• OPALCO financials. 

Compensation is considered only after completion of this evaluation.

The Board reviews multiple independent compensation benchmarks, including IRS Form 990 filings from more than 20 electric cooperatives, a regional survey of 83 Northwest electric utilities, and an independent compensation consultant’s analysis. These benchmarks confirm that OPALCO’s General Manager compensation falls within competitive market ranges for organizations of similar size, complexity, and risk profile.

A note for the 2025 Board President, Vince Dauciunas: 

“The OPALCO Board is made up of local member-owners—your neighbors—who take our fiduciary responsibilities seriously. Compensation decisions are not made lightly. They result from a structured annual process that follows OPALCO’s Strategic Directives and includes formal performance evaluations, assessment of organizational results, and detailed comparisons using multiple independent compensation benchmarks from peer electric cooperatives and regional utilities.

It is also important to understand the scope and complexity of OPALCO’s operations. Our General Manager is responsible for overseeing an island-based electric system with unique reliability and emergency response challenges, major infrastructure investments, regulatory compliance, and the management of a successful broadband subsidiary. Serving geographically dispersed island communities requires experienced leadership and a high level of operational expertise”.

The Board adjusts compensation only after careful review, balancing the need to retain qualified leadership with our obligation to be responsible stewards of member resources. Market-competitive compensation supports the stability, continuity, and performance our cooperative depends on.

This same approach applies across the organization. From lineworkers and engineers to IT, accounting, member services, and executive leadership, OPALCO’s wage policy is to remain competitive within the cooperative utility industry so we can attract and retain the skilled professionals required to deliver safe, reliable electric and broadband services.

OPALCO belongs to its members. We welcome questions and remain committed to transparency. The Board’s role is to act in the best long-term interests of the cooperative and the communities it serves.”

Read OPALCO General Manager, Foster Hildreth’s bio HERE.

• Average GM compensation in WA is $345,266 base wage & 472,698 total wage
• Average GM compensation in OR is $374,253 base wage & 533,586 total wage

Executive compensation in the electric utility industry does not scale with community size — it scales with system risk, complexity, and fiduciary responsibility.

Investor-owned utilities compensate CEOs at the highest levels, while consumer-owned utilities, including electric cooperatives, pay substantially less. Even so, the General Manager of a rural electric cooperative is often one of the higher-paid positions in the community due to enterprise-level responsibility for essential infrastructure, public safety, financial stability, environmental compliance, and emergency response.

OPALCO is not a typical rural utility. It operates one of the most complex electric distribution systems in the Pacific Northwest, serving 20 non-contiguous islands through 25 submarine power cables and an electric system that is nearly 90 percent underground. OPALCO also operates an integrated broadband and communications system critical to public safety and grid operations. San Juan County also has a much higher cost of living than many parts of the Northwest.

Leadership Scope and Accountability

The General Manager holds full fiduciary and operational responsibility for OPALCO’s electric and communications systems and for Rock Island Communications, OPALCO’s wholly owned broadband subsidiary. Responsibilities include oversight of hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure assets, enterprise-level financial performance, federal loan compliance, regulatory coordination, emergency response, and long-range capital planning.

Despite this complexity, OPALCO’s retail electric rates remain below the national average and comparable to Washington State averages. Maintaining competitive rates in an island-based system with extensive marine infrastructure requires disciplined budgeting, long-term planning, and careful risk management.

Check out a Regional Cooperative Executive Compensation Benchmarking
Find general manager/CEO compensation for approximately 123 electric cooperatives and public utilities across the Pacific Northwest and Western United States. This information has been compiled from publicly available IRS Form 990 filings accessed through ProPublica’s nonprofit database.