“Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer” was a Nat King Cole hit song in 1963, describing relaxed, carefree summer days. It evokes leisure, long, unstructured days of youth, and time in the sun.
There are no “lazy days” for your electric cooperative. In fact, summer means watching the weather, planning for hot peak days, and working diligently to ensure we have sufficient generating resources to keep the lights on and air conditioners running. There is a complex network of power sources, transmission lines, and local resources that allow United Power to respond to the changing conditions of hot, sultry days, often capped with clouds and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms may bring cooling relief (and lower system demand), but they also impact the grid in a number of ways, from lightning strikes on aboveground equipment to flooding of underground vaults.
Managing the distribution system is a well-choreographed dance between power sources, energy storage, and transmission that matches the flow of power with demand.
Modern storage, pioneered here at United Power, has been a major change in system operations in the last two years. It allows us to take advantage of lower-cost power and use it when demand is high. As a percentage of our overall generation portfolio, we have one of the largest utilization rates in the country with 119 MW of capacity. Next year, we will add another 200 MW of storage. This is against a peak of nearly 700 MW that continues to grow.
The cooperative also has significant solar resources. Nearly 14,000 of our members have invested in rooftop solar systems on their homes, which complement our utility-scale systems. United Power will add 500 MW of additional solar generation by 2030.
Because our members need the cooperative to provide a continuous supply of energy day or night, we manage 30 power purchase agreements, including hydropower and local gas generation, and participate in the Southwest Power Pool’s power market.
During the summer, particularly on hotter than average days, demand rises sharply and United Power must pay more as the regional system is impacted. There is often a misperception that the “peak” time for utilities is midday when solar is at its highest production. It is not. Peak hours generally fall between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., when businesses and industries are still operating and our members are also coming home from work or school, cooking dinner, and cranking the air conditioning.
Your cooperative anticipates the needs for the summer — and the rest of the year — through a sophisticated modeling process that produces an integrated resource plan (IRP), also called an energy resource plan. In fact, we are in the process of developing United Power’s IRP right now. This looks at the potential for continued growth over the next 20 years and the availability of generation and storage. It also reviews new resources that align with our hyper-localization strategy. The cooperative’s IRP — which will ultimately be approved by your Board of Directors — helps to guide decisions in terms of generating resources, the investments that will need to be made, and the timing of those decisions. Later this summer, we will release the details of our IRP and share the final report on our website.
I am proud of the team at United Power that is helping us make the best decisions for our members. They work diligently every day to manage this complex power supply web and ensure our lights stay on reliably.
As Nat King Cole sang, “Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer.”
Enjoy your summer, and please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments.
Meeting highlights include Director Election results, local energy strategy, and New ERA grant update.
Meeting Highlights include Director Election Results, Local Energy Strategy, and New ERA Grant Update
Brighton, CO – United Power members gathered for the cooperative’s 2026 Annual Meeting on April 15 at Riverdale Regional Park in Brighton. More than 500 members and guests attended this year’s meeting, which included a video presentation highlighting the co-op’s 2025 accomplishments, the annual financial report, and a special presentation from United Power President and CEO Mark A. Gabriel. Results of the Director Election were announced at the conclusion of the meeting.
Voting in the Director Election was conducted via mail-in and electronic balloting. More than 4,700 member ballots were cast in the election. Running unopposed, South District incumbent Steven Douglas and Mountain District incumbent Tamra K. Waltemath retained their seats with each candidate receiving 3,996 votes. North District incumbent Virginia A. “Ginny” Buczek retained her seat with 2,496 votes. Her opponent Phil Tiffany received 2,110 votes. A new director was seated in the Central District, where Lisa Hough received 2,733 votes to challenger Vicki Erickson’s 1,797 votes. A ballot item that asked members to update the cooperative’s Articles of Incorporation to ensure they are clear, transparent, and consistent with current state laws and the cooperative’s bylaws passed with 3,635 votes in favor.
Board Chair Stephen Whiteside and Mark A. Gabriel shared a video presentation at the meeting highlighting how The Power of Local impacts the cooperative’s decision making and its everyday operations. Two years ago, United Power exited its wholesale power contract beginning its journey to energy independence. The cooperative is actively implementing its local energy strategy, known as hyper-localization, where more power is generated closer to the cooperative’s footprint and the communities it serves. Local energy also bypasses costly and congested transmission. The strategy was highlighted last year in the second version of the co-op’s long-term action plan, Our Cooperative Roadmap.
“One of the most significant changes in United Power’s history was our transition to a new power supply strategy,” said Whiteside. “When we moved away from a single provider, we gained more local control over where our power comes from and our ability to plan for the future.”
“Independence provides the cooperative with flexibility to build a diverse energy portfolio that protects reliability and helps keep long-term costs in check,” Gabriel said. “This includes an expanding catalog of hyper-local projects, like Mountain Peak Power, which was energized last summer in partnership with Kindle Energy. This innovative natural gas peaking plant is strategically located outside Keenesburg adjacent to gas lines, making it an efficient and cost-effective resource during peak demand events. Also, because it is located near a substation connected to a battery energy storage system (BESS), it will reduce costs and increase reliability for our members.”
United Power became one of the first electric utilities in the country to install BESS adjacent to its substations in 2024. These projects support the cooperative’s hyper-local strategy and are critical for resource adequacy, energy arbitrage opportunities, and shaving peak demand.
“Resources like Mountain Peak Power help ensure we have power when we need it most, right here at home,” said Whiteside. “It is another example of how investing locally supports reliability, flexibility, and long-term value for our members.”
Gabriel also shared that this week, the cooperative was the first awardee of 15 to receive funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program. The grant award, which will be paid over the next 10 to 15 years, will be used to help mitigate the rising cost of power and to stabilize rates for cooperative members. In September 2025, the agency confirmed that United Power was the first cooperative to submit and receive approval of its Community Benefit Plan Implementation Report, which was a condition to receive funds related to four energy projects already operating for the benefit of United Power communities. Three additional New ERA projects will come online by the end of 2029. United Power will continue investing in local communities, and fulfilling the cooperative’s commitments to advancing workforce development, access to energy assistance, support for rural farmers, and more.
“Simply put, just as we are securing new energy resources to support our membership, we are also ensuring the benefits of New ERA related to new jobs, reliability, and long-term affordability stay in our communities,” said Whiteside.
“We would like to extend a special thank you to our Congressional delegation, including Reps. Gabe Evans and Lauren Boebert as well as Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, for their support,” said Gabriel. “It has been a long road, but our amazing staff and the USDA staff made it happen.”
Paige Wagner-Maul, United Power Board Assistant Secretary/Treasurer, presented the cooperative’s financial report. Fiscal year 2025 marked United Power’s first full year of independence from its former single-source wholesale power contract, highlighted by the cooperative’s “A - Stable” investor-grade credit rating being affirmed by Fitch Ratings. This rating indicates a strong and stable financial outlook and will allow the co-op to pursue favorable interest rates as it continues to invest in its system.
Although margins decreased slightly, energy sales and revenue increased last year. Notably, certain aspects of the co-op’s May 2024 wholesale power contract buyout were determined in the co-op’s favor in 2025, lowering wholesale power costs and offsetting costs to the membership.
Gabriel concluded the meeting with a presentation about how United Power is taking a proactive position in an industry undergoing dramatic change. New technologies and projects are under development that promise to deliver answers to existing challenges, but the cooperative cannot afford to wait. Gabriel highlighted some expectations about United Power’s future energy demands and its strategy to address them.
“The future will not be defined by those who sit idle,” Gabriel said. “It will be shaped by those who act. United Power is doing exactly that. Planning strategically, investing wisely, and keeping our members at the center of every decision.”
Videos and information presented at the 2026 Annual Meeting, including the cooperative’s 2025 Annual Report, are available at www.unitedpower.com.
About United Power
United Power is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative, delivering electricity to homes, farms, and businesses throughout Colorado’s northern front range. The cooperative is one of the fastest-growing electric co-ops in the nation, serving nearly 118,000 meters. Its 900-square mile service territory extends from the mountains of Coal Creek and Golden Gate Canyon, along the I-25 corridor and Carbon Valley region, to the farmlands of Brighton, Hudson, and Keenesburg. For more information about United Power, visit www.unitedpower.com or follow the cooperative on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.
“Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer” was a Nat King Cole hit song in 1963, describing relaxed, carefree summer days. It evokes leisure, long, unstructured days of youth, and time in the sun.