John Bogert, Jim Lett and Bob Myhr were re-elected to the opalco Board of Directors on May 1.

About 335 people attended the 73rd annual meeting of Orcas Power & Light Cooperative, Saturday on the interisland ferry. All told, 1,285 OPALCO members cast ballots — second only to last year’s record-breaking 1,349 ballots cast.

Lett and Myhr were re-elected from District 3 (Center, Charles, Decatur and Lopez islands). Bogert was re-elected for District 4 (Bell, Canoe, Crane and Shaw islands). Each will serve additional three-year terms.

Board officers remain the same: Chris Thomerson, president; Dave Hylton, vice president; and Bogert, secretary/treasurer. Retiring director Roger Crosby was honored with a plaque to recognize his 22 years of service on the OPALCO board.

OPALCO members were treated to brunch by Avenue Catering.

The new Energy Services Program was unveiled and members took home treasure maps that serve as a guide to the new programs and home energy savings (maps are available in OPALCO offices).

OPALCO staff members talked to members about energy-efficiency and conservation, automated metering and Project PAL.

More than 50 members took home door prizes that included local goods, camping gear, gardening sets, gift baskets, gift certificates, Mariners tickets, kitchen tools and power tools.

Six members who mailed absentee ballots were drawn for $50 credits on their next OPALCO bills. The six winners were Donald Adams, Martha Clark and Karen Gilbert, Judy Jackson, Karel Jahns, Robert and Laurencia Liebmann, and Barbara and James Orcutt.

State Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Anacortes, applauded OPALCO’s commitment to energy efficiency and conservation, and discussed some of the new energy efficiency standards and measures introduced in the 2010 legislative session.

General Manager Randy Cornelius discussed system improvements. Twenty-two miles of overhead lines have been converted to underground. The transition to automated metering is 45 percent complete. System losses have declined from 9 percent in 2007 to 5 percent in 2009 (every 1 percent of system loss costs about $70,000, Cornelius said).

Cornelius told members, “You have the power to help control energy costs through energy efficiency and, as a co-op, we can work together to save energy and money on our bills.”

OPALCO members saved more than 4.3 million kWh from 2007-09 — worth about $332,000.