Employees Volunteered at Eight Local Organizations in October

United Power celebrated National Co-op Month in October with the return of its popular Days of Service campaign for the second consecutive year. The cooperative collaborated with local nonprofits on eight service projects designed to provide volunteer opportunities for employees to spend a day giving back. 

These projects emphasize the co-op’s commitment to the communities it serves and recognize the importance of nonprofits that are meeting the needs of members. This year, more than 90 employees participated. 

“Our employees share the cooperative’s commitment to care for the local community,” said Julie Stewart, United Power’s Community Outreach Specialist. “They understand how important these organizations, and the services they provide, are to local families, and they were excited to volunteer.”

Some of the projects included building a fence and cleaning on-site areas at Happiness Through Horses; trail maintenance and winter prep at the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies; prepping spaces for upcoming projects at the Pennock Center; and packing food for distribution at the Adams County Food Bank, Fort Lupton Food and Clothing Bank, Pastor’s Pantry, and the Weld Food Bank’s mobile pantry. United Power employees also donated hygiene products throughout the month and helped pack kits for Sparkling Kindness. 

“I am very thankful that I could participate and help an organization in our service territory,” said one employee after helping distribute food to local families at the Weld Food Bank. “These opportunities set us apart from other electric utilities and show how much we truly care about our members.”

These organizations are a continual reminder that the cooperative serves thriving communities thanks to our members’ spirits of service and commitment to giving back. Local residents recognized an important need in their community and found a way to meet it with the help of like-minded friends and neighbors. It resembles the way electric cooperatives were formed nearly 90 years ago when local farmers came together to establish a local power company, owned by the members it serves. 

These days it is easy for national headlines and political turmoil to distract us from the prime directive of electric cooperatives like United Power, which is to safely keep the lights on in the most cost effective and sustainable way possible.

Every day and night the women and men of United Power are clearly focused on our mission. There is an old saying, loosely adopted by the U.S. Postal Service, from the translation of Herodotus’ Histories that says, “It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.” This is more appropriately the mantra of the people at United Power who work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year in some of the most challenging weather conditions to ensure the lights stay on.

We have a tremendous team — from the dispatchers working around the clock to the crews who build the system to the engineers planning the system to the member services representatives answering your questions. Every one of our 200+ employees does their part. They are dedicated to your cooperative with the support of our visionary Board of Directors who spend countless hours guiding the execution of Our Cooperative Roadmap.

Federal funding cancellations affecting projects are indeed disappointing — and confusing as the entire industry faces challenges brought on by significant increases in electric demand. Our actions are focused on physics, not politics, and we will continue to make sure we have a diverse portfolio of hyper-localized resources, coupled with power from a variety of transmission-delivered electricity. 

We recently contracted for the Fortress Project, a 200 megawatt (MW) solar project supported by 150 MW of battery storage. Combined with our existing 119 MW of batteries, United Power leads the way in the West.

Data centers receive a lot of blame for increasing energy costs, but that is only a fraction of the pressure on rates. While there is a narrative that data centers support the artificial intelligence invading our lives, many of us believe requiring these companies to invest in upgrades and support of renewable energy mandates will actually help lower rates. United Power’s LIT (location, investment, and timing) process requires developers of large projects to pay for the costs of infrastructure. This process, once further utilized and refined, is expected to be a model for other utilities.

There are other realities we are facing. The inflationary pressures on equipment are dramatic. We see this in our everyday lives at the grocery store but certainly in the materials we need to purchase to keep the lights on. Over the past several years the cost of things as simple as a basic work truck have gone up more than 30%, steel and aluminum have increased significantly due to tariffs, and health care costs continue to climb beyond the rate of inflation. 

At United Power we have moved ahead on a new asset management system that will allow us to focus on replacing equipment at the right time, manage inventory more efficiently, and understand problems before they spread widely. Additionally, the partnership with all of you, our members, as we move toward becoming a distribution system operator (DSO) means we will be able to aggregate local generation in support of the market when it comes in April 2026.

We do have some additional challenges that must be addressed. The lack of transmission — which is exacerbated by local utilities trying to control the lines for their own benefit — is one of the critical issues we are attacking. Meeting the state’s 2030 emissions requirements is harder because of this situation, but I am confident in the great team at United Power and their ability to find a solution.

As always, please feel free to reach out with any comments or questions. It is my honor to serve as your President and CEO and to lead this team of amazing people.

Sending Aid to Power the Navajo Nation

Miles of vacant desert land often separate homesteads in the sparsely populated territory of the Navajo Nation. The summer months are a grueling combination of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and very little moisture. And many of the Nation’s people still endure the environment without access to electricity. 

The Light Up Navajo initiative was launched as a collaboration between the Navajo Tribal Utilities Authority (NTUA) and the American Public Power Association to bridge this gap in electrification. The initiative’s sixth project since 2019 aimed to power 175 homes in remote parts of the Nation this summer.

Four United Power lineworkers volunteered to participate in the summer project. They were dispatched to New Mexico for a week in July. The crew included Foreman Zach Reynolds, Journey Lineworkers Ted Pierce and Dillon Scroggins, and Apprentice Lineworker Isaiah Segoviano. 

“I did not know what to expect when I volunteered for this project,” said Reynolds. “It was a very humbling and eye-opening experience. It is crazy to think that we have the luxury of power every day, but we get upset and complain when the power goes out. Some of the Navajo people have lived more than 50 years without power.”

Reynolds and his crew would wake up as early as 5 a.m. to drive to the staging station before spending nearly an hour on the road to their work site. They spent the week setting poles and hanging line extensions under the hot sun. 

It was frequently a challenge to set poles because of the loose dirt embedded with small stones and rocks. Using traditional equipment to dig post holes was nearly impossible due to the conditions, and it was common for holes to collapse. 

The week ended with a larger project that included setting 40 poles to power a single residence on an isolated plot of land. Its occupants were the grandchildren of a former World War II code talker, a special unit of Marines who used their native Navajo language to create and transmit coded messages during the war. They were a crucial element in the victory. 

“He was a code talker and a prisoner of war,” said Reynolds. “He waited his whole life to see his home energized, but he sadly passed just before our project powered his home.” 

Reynolds said the NTUA emphasized meeting the families who received power.

“Meeting the families and hearing their testimonies was one of the most memorable experiences,” he said. “Until you see how they live, you don’t have any idea how impactful and life-changing this was for them.” 

United Power crews have volunteered to help with Light Up Navajo on three separate projects since July 2024. The cooperative will continue to support this initiative on future projects.