Blue Ridge Energy
Legal name: Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 560160075
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Lenoir, NC, USA
- Phone
- 1-800-448-2383
- Rating
- 55
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $182,234,252
- Expenses
- $179,551,160
- Assets
- $524,118,190
- Liabilities
- $313,040,260
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
28 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DOUGLAS W JOHNSON (CEO CONSULTA)
- JEFFREY B JOINES (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- DOUGLAS W JOHNSON (CEO CONSULTA): $1,826,396 total reported compensation
- KATIE M WOODLE (EXEC. VP & C): $581,008 total reported compensation
- ALAN MERCK (SVP, COO): $507,217 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Keeping the lights on is a powerful mission. We find purpose in keeping homes warm and businesses operating, so families and communities can thrive.
What it reported doing in 2025
Safe and effective delivery of electricity to the members of blue ridge emc. The three largest program services, as measured by expenses, are as follows: cost of power: 76,534,663 other salaries and wages: 23,206,400 depreciation: 21,645,493
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 90% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 46
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.5%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.92; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.6%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.8M · 28 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $14M reported
- Consistency: 14 of 15 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 29 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.