GFOA Certificate of Achievement Award
The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the Authority for its annual comprehensive financial reports for twenty-one consecutive years. In order to be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, a governmental agency must publish an easily readable and efficiently organized annual comprehensive financial report. This report must satisfy both generally accepted accounting principles and applicable Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) legal requirements. A Certificate of Achievement is valid for a period of one year only.
Grand Year of Safety –The GRDA Finance and Corporate Communications Departments prepared the 2022, Grand Year of Safety, report in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. We believe the information presented is accurate in all material respects and that all disclosures necessary to enable the reader to gain an adequate understanding of GRDA’s financial position and results of operations have been included. Responsibility for the accuracy, completeness and fairness of the financial statement presentation, and disclosure rests with the management of the Authority
#1 GRDA – The GRDA Finance and Corporate Communications Departments prepared the 2021, #1 GRDA, report in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. We believe the information represented is accurate in all material respects and that all disclosures necessary to enable the reader to gain an adequate understanding of GRDA’s financial position and results of operations have been included. Responsibility for the accuracy, completeness and fairness of the financial statement presentation, and disclosure rests with the management of the Authority.
A Grand Vision – The GRDA Finance and Corporate Communications Departments prepared the 2020, A Grand Vision, report in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. We believe the information represented is accurate in all material respects and that all disclosures necessary to enable the reader to gain an adequate understanding of GRDA’s financial position and results of operations have been included. Responsibility for the accuracy, completeness and fairness of the financial statement presentation, and disclosure rests with the management of the Authority.
The Year of Implementation – The GRDA Finance and Corporate Communications Departments prepared the 2019 Year of Implementation report in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. We believe the information represented is accurate in all material respects and that all disclosures necessary to enable the reader to gain an adequate understanding of GRDA’s financial position and results of operations have been included. Responsibility for the accuracy, completeness and fairness of the financial statement presentation, and disclosure rests with the management of the Authority.2019 Continuing Disclosure
The Year of Efficiency – The Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA or Authority) strives to make every action reflect that the Authority is an Oklahoma Agency of Excellence in every phase of our operation, every day. To begin the 2018 Year of Efficiency, employees were encouraged to bring forward ideas on improving efficiency while maintaining high levels of reliability and promoting a safe working environment. From the ongoing effort to launch a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, to the realignment of duties and positions, the implementation of new processes and policies, GRDA’s goal was to achieve and embrace greater efficiency Authority-wide.2018 Continuing Disclosure
Grand New Beginning – The Grand River Dam Authority’s (GRDA’s) resiliency in 2016 poised it to rise to a Grand New Beginning in 2017. The Authority celebrated the dedication of Grand River Energy Center Unit 3 (GREC 3), a 495 MW combined-cycle natural gas plant. This dedication included an announcement from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems of America, the manufacturer of the plant’s 501J gas turbine, that the newly constructed unit was the most efficient 60 hertz power plant in the world. The Authority’s GREC 2 quite literally rose from the ashes to celebrate its return to service. The Authority received the Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma’s Clarence Fulkerson Electric System Achievement Award, given annually to the public power utility that distinguishes itself for exemplary system improvements and reliability.
Grand Resilience – For the Grand River Dam Authority, 2016 was a year in which new responsibilities were added, unforeseen challenges were met, and excellent management led to the highest financial ratings in the organization’s history.As the year began, GRDA was still remediating issues created by Mother Nature in late 2015. Heavy rains in the Grand River watershed in December resulted in dozens of floodgate operations at both Pensacola and Robert S. Kerr Dams as the lakes reached near-historic levels. Under the direction of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, GRDA spent the waning days of 2015 and the first days of 2016 managing some of the largest floodwater releases since the construction of Pensacola Dam in 1940.
An Oklahoma Agency of Excellence – Early in the year, the Board of Directors elected to revise GRDA’s mission to include an emphasis on Efficiency and Employees to the long-standing goals of Economic Development, Environmental Stewardship, and Electricity.The Authority’s 2015 year included several landmarks on its road to remaining among Oklahoma’s leading public utilities. Among those landmarks were the substantial completion of Air Quality Control System Upgrades to GRDA Unit 2 and the installation of multiple key components of GRDA Unit 3, including the long river voyage of the M501J gas turbine, which was received on Oklahoma soil in early 2016. GRDA also included the commercial operation of two wind farms from which it has purchased power agreements.
Grand & Greener – Over the last year, GRDA has taken major steps that will allow the organization to fulfill the charge to maintain its “grand” status as a powerful Oklahoma resource and to create a “greener” future for generations to come.With a core mission centered on the production of low-cost, reliable electricity and the stewardship of valuable Oklahoma natural resources, all of the Grand River Dam Authority’s daily efforts are accomplished within the framework of environmentally-focused regulations and efficient operating goals. GRDA is charged not only with putting Oklahoma resources to work to create the power that benefits Oklahomans, but is also responsible for protecting those same resources so that Oklahomans can also benefit from them in other ways.
Grand & Diversified – Nothing happens without cooperation; goals are not achieved, plans are not finalized, foundations are not laid, and success is not found.However, where partnerships exist, teamwork is displayed and vision is shared, all good things can be realized.The year 2013 reaffirmed this principle for the Grand River Dam Authority, time and time again. On many different fronts such as electric generation, economic development and workforce management, teamwork and cooperation were the components GRDA depended on as it addressed its goals.
Grand Focus – The Grand River Dam Authority will look back on 2012 as a busy year marked by large projects, new initiatives and continued efforts to meet the broad GRDA mission on several fronts.The theme of this year’s report is Grand Focus. In order to remain the low cost, reliable provider for our customers, GRDA spent a great deal of time throughout the year requesting input from customers as we embark on a plan for our future generation needs. As GRDA worked through the options available to meet customers’ needs for the future, the Grand Focus remained on the fact that GRDA’s customers’ successes equates to a successful GRDA.
Grand Expectations – “What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” – John LubbockThe Grand River Dam Authority exists today because our organization’s founders acted upon their “grand expectations” for Oklahoma. Those expectations included low-cost, reliable electricity, economic development and environmental stewardship. They expected to build dams, grand lakes and electric generation and delivery facilities where none had ever been built before. Along the way, they expected to boost Oklahoma business and industry and transform a rugged, rural landscape into a region where thousands would want to live, work and play.In other words, they expected the GRDA that exists today. Like an eagle rising into the air, those grand expectations took flight when construction began on Pensacola Dam. Expectations continued to soar as GRDA developed its electricity system, established partnerships with Oklahoma customers, and helped create the region’s premier recreation destination around the shores of GRDA lakes.Grand Expectations is not just our current theme, it is our message. The expectations embody our willingness to follow through with a new commitment to communication and compliance. It incorporates Oklahoma’s self-reliant spirit and visionary leaders from days gone by; it characterizes their struggles, triumphs, and ongoing successes. It includes GRDA’s history, mission, partnerships and the role in Oklahoma’s powerful story.Grand expectations became grand realizations. Today, as we look back on 2011, GRDA can see what it was looking for when the year began: successful operations during our 77th year. Of course, there were challenges along the way, including blizzards, droughts, heat waves and a leadership transition. However, GRDA has been able to soar above the challenges and maintain its role as a powerful Oklahoma asset. The pages of this comprehensive annual financial report outline our flight through 2011.It is a flight we hope to continue in the future.In fact, we have come to expect it.
Looking to the Future, Celebrating the Past – “When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come.” – Leonardo da VinciThe potential for the Grand River Dam Authority existed long before the GRDA idea was born. Winding its way for centuries through what would one day become Northeast Oklahoma, the Grand River was both the inspiration and the foundation for GRDA.When GRDA was created in 1935, its mission was to harness the waters of the river. In doing so, new benefits were realized for the very waters that had already helped to sustain mankind for thousands of years. The site between the sudden boom towns of Disney and Langley, looking for work during some of the darkest days of the Great Depression. Together, they built Oklahoma’s first hydroelectric facility and one of the world’s longest multiplearch dams, giving a concrete and steel reality to the GRDA idea. By the end of 1940, Pensacola Dam was in full operation and providing electricity to Northeastern Oklahoma.
2010 Continuing Disclosure
Looking to the Future, Celebrating the Past – “When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come.” – Leonardo da VinciThe potential for the Grand River Dam Authority existed long before the GRDA idea was born. Winding its way for centuries through what would one day become Northeast Oklahoma, the Grand River was both the inspiration and the foundation for GRDA.When GRDA was created in 1935, its mission was to harness the waters of the river. In doing so, new benefits were realized for the very waters that had already helped to sustain mankind for thousands of years. The site between the sudden boom towns of Disney and Langley, looking for work during some of the darkest days of the Great Depression. Together, they built Oklahoma’s first hydroelectric facility and one of the world’s longest multiplearch dams, giving a concrete and steel reality to the GRDA idea. By the end of 1940, Pensacola Dam was in full operation and providing electricity to Northeastern Oklahoma.
2010 Continuing Disclosure
Mission: Possible – Is it possible to provide low-cost, reliable power, be responsive to customer needs and help improve quality of life across your service area?The Grand River Dam Authority thinks so. And everyday, the GRDA workforce, with support from customers and the people of Oklahoma, works to complete this mission.During 2009, GRDA proved this multifaceted mission was possible as it provided electricity, supported economic development and maintained proper stewardship of the natural resources under its control. At the same time, GRDA also planned ways to complete the mission in the years ahead.Of course, while electricity generation, economic development and ecosystems management are the pillars of our mission, beneficial partnerships with customers and neighbors comprise the foundation for the whole organization. Through the pages of this 2009 GRDA Annual Report, we will take a closer look at all these areas and how it was “Mission: Possible” for the Authority in 2009.