Brighton, CO – Fitch Ratings (Fitch), an international credit rating firm, recently reaffirmed United Power’s Issuer Default and 2024 First Mortgage Notes ratings each as ‘A,’ with a stable outlook. Fitch assesses the credit standing of businesses, communicating the credit worthiness and financial strength of the company to lenders.

United Power sought its first rating in March 2024 ahead of financing its departure from a long-term, all-requirements contract with regional power cooperative Tri-State Generation and Transmission. This contract termination provided United Power greater ability to integrate new energy resources and control a variety of expenses necessary to support the management and procurement of its energy portfolio.

“This rating review affirms the strength and solvency United Power has achieved and maintained in its first full year of power supply independence,” said Mark A. Gabriel, President and CEO of United Power. “After a dramatic shift in the business model, maintaining our credit rating reflects United Power's post-exit stability. The cooperative has greater control of its own future, resulting in greater flexibility and control over procuring and providing power for our members.”

Fitch closely evaluated United Power’s past financial performance and weighed the growth opportunities in the cooperative’s territory to reach its rating. United Power’s ‘A’ rating indicates the cooperative is at a low default risk, and its capacity for repayment of financial commitments is considered strong.

This rating further reflects United Power's very strong revenue defensibility assessment and strong operating risk profile.

You can find the press release from Fitch here.
 

No one likes rate increases. Full stop.

By the same token, maintaining a financially healthy cooperative is a critical part of United Power’s mission. Our staff — and your Board of Directors — work diligently to make sure rates are matched closely with the utility’s operating costs. It is those growing costs that require the Jan. 1 rate increase.

The supply chain for many products, including those we use at the cooperative, have still not recovered from the pandemic, even before tariffs began impacting costs. Power poles are up 25-40% since 2020, transformers have doubled in price, copper wire is up 50%, and construction labor has increased by nearly 40%. Uncertainty in power generation, and which resources will be in favor from one administration to the next, is making generators and power providers hesitant to commit to long-term pricing. And, to further complicate the issue, more large power generating stations are coming offline, forcing capacity prices upward. It is more difficult for companies to commit to pricing when tariffs are in flux and off-shore/near-shore manufacturers that make many of the products utilities use are not sure if they will be able to sell products in the U.S.

United Power has worked to build a portfolio of hyper-localized projects to manage our wholesale power costs, believing that is the most logical and efficient solution in an uncertain financial environment. We have one of the largest distributed battery systems in the nation and recently opened the newest, most efficient gas plant in the country. We continue to contract for low-cost solar energy. In October, we committed to an additional 200 megawatts of solar coupled with 150 megawatts of battery storage, and we look forward to a power market coming to Colorado in April.

We are also committed to helping our members better manage their usage and bills through a variety of programs. We have dramatically reduced our peak energy hours, the time of day when our wholesale energy costs are at their highest, allowing members to shift demand and save on bills. The peak window has shortened from 2-10 p.m. to 5-9 p.m., a more rational window that makes it easier for members to navigate. Rates before and after the new peak are approximately 6.7 cents. An analysis of 2024 aggregated usage data shows that many residential and commercial members could benefit by moving to a time of use rate. Click here for detailed information about the 2026 rate change. Members can also reach out to an energy management specialist for help analyzing their energy usage and selecting the best rate to save on costs. Additionally, tools to help improve your energy efficiency are available here.

The story is the same across Colorado and the rest of the country. Virtually every utility (electric, gas, and water) is facing the challenge of holding down costs as long as possible. United Power has only had one year of rate increases (2024) during my nearly five years as CEO. The Board intentionally held back on raising rates during COVID, understanding the impact on an already challenged local economy. We do not take the matter of raising rates lightly, and we commit to managing your investments well.

As your cooperative and a key member of the communities we serve, United Power works every day to keep the lights on and power flowing in the most reliable and cost competitive way possible. We realize even small increases are challenging for many of our members and stand ready to help people manage their energy wisely.

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.

Reliability Outperforms National Averages Year-Over-Year

Members expect consistently reliable power from their electric utility. United Power has maintained a standard of excellence in system performance, delivering results that far exceed the national average year-over-year. The cooperative has continued to meet this standard while it navigated a power supply transition last year and is incorporating new, innovative projects that source and store power locally. 

The cooperative’s exit from its wholesale power contract in May of 2024 meant bringing on new contracts from a mix of traditional and sustainable resources into the distribution system. Aside from celebrating United Power’s energy independence, the switch was successfully executed without any power disruptions, ensuring members can count on the cooperative to maintain its standards for reliability and resiliency across the distribution system.

United Power has collected 18 months of data since the transition, demonstrating consistent system reliability.

Measuring Reliability, By the Numbers

Electric utilities use a variety of key performance indicators to measure how effectively and efficiently their systems are operating. The most common indicator is known as the System Average Interruption Duration Index, or SAIDI. United Power also tracks the System Average Interruption Frequency Index, or SAIFI. These indicators are among the many used by utilities to analyze system performance and calculate outage expectations for an average member. 

SAIDI is the measurement of cumulative outage time (in minutes) an average member would expect to experience over the course of a year. The national average across all electric utilities was 131 minutes in 2024 and nearly 240 minutes for cooperatives, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). United Power’s SAIDI score has stayed below 80 minutes each of the past three years and is just above 60 minutes through September of this year.

SAIFI measures the total number of outages an average member would expect to experience over the course of a year (frequency of outages experienced). United Power’s score of 0.90 in 2024 means the average meter experienced fewer than one outage throughout the year, again exceeding the national average across all electric utilities (1.07) and other cooperatives (1.61), per the EIA. Put another way, most United Power members were unlikely to experience more than one outage last year, and many did not experience an outage at all. 

Another performance indicator used by utilities measures the system’s overall availability rate. The co-op’s three-year availability rate was between 98.8% and 99.9%. 

“Our system’s performance is due to the great effort of our engineering and operations teams,” said Mark A. Gabriel, United Power’s President and CEO. “They are responsible for reviewing and interpreting data and developing strategies to improve the system. We are setting the standard for other utilities while meeting our members’ expectations.”

Building a Better System

United Power’s approach to maximizing system performance utilizes a comprehensive combination of design practices, proactive maintenance projects, and extensive integration of automated and smart field devices. 

Outages are an intrinsic reality for electric utilities. United Power can mitigate them, but cannot guarantee they will not happen. Mitigation begins with building the system so that outages are recognized earlier, impact fewer members, and are restored quickly — and more importantly, safely. The cooperative designs the system with these steps in mind. 

One of the ways this is accomplished is known as a “redundancy.” This essentially means that power can be rerouted from an alternate source to restore members during an outage while crews are investigating the cause or working on repairs. Most members are on a redundant system, which is part of why United Power’s average restoration times are also among the best in the country. 

Another design strategy is “sectionalizing.” This means that when a fault results in an outage, depending on where it is located down the line, it may affect fewer members. Devices are installed in sections throughout the distribution system to limit outage impact. 

United Power also deploys automated devices that collect system data. That information can help locate and clear faults to minimize outages and reduce restoration times or identify infrastructure that is not performing optimally and needs to be repaired. This data has been helpful in the cooperative’s maintenance plan, which proactively targets the worst-performing sections of the system to improve reliability and increase resiliency. 

United Power outperforms other electric utilities across the various metrics used to evaluate system performance, but the cooperative regularly reviews emerging strategies and innovative technologies that can further improve reliability. Delivering safe and reliable power is the co-op’s core responsibility to members. You can be sure it is not taken lightly.

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.