United Power members will once again be able to nominate their favorite local nonprofits to receive grant funds from the cooperative through the 2021 Member Choice Grant program.

Within our service territory, there are many nonprofits that bring value to the communities we serve. Member Choice Grants, originally introduced in 2020, give our members a voice in what nonprofit organizations they’d like to see us support. The grant funds will help them continue to work toward accomplishing their mission and ensures we are supporting causes our members truly care about.

This past year, our members recognized the needs of others who were trying to navigate difficult circumstances and focused their nominations on organizations that met essential needs. These organizations included food and clothing banks, mental health resources and positive recreation.

Recipients of grant awards are determined based on member nominations throughout the year. Nominations are now open, and recipients will be announced in three rounds in the cooperative’s newsletter.

For more information on Member Choice Grants and past recipients or to nominate a nonprofit that serves United Power members to receive grant funds, go to Member Choice.

United Power has completed construction on its newest solar project, which is expected to be powered before the end of the year. The Rattlesnake Solar Farm, located adjacent to the cooperative’s largest utility-scale solar farm near Platteville, will provide an additional 6 megawatts of energy to United Power’s renewable portfolio.

“United Power set the stage for cooperative solar when it powered the community solar garden more than ten years ago,” said New Business Director Joel Danforth. “This new expansion reinforces our commitment to bringing members alternative energy options that are both affordable and renewable.”

The Rattlesnake Solar Farm was built in cooperation with Silicon Ranch, which has worked with United Power on several other solar projects in previous years, including the nearby Platte Solar Farm. The Platte Solar Farm, built and energized in 2017, has a capacity of 16 megawatts, enough to power approximately 3,000 homes. The cooperative has also partnered with Silicon Ranch on the Fort Lupton and Mavericks Solar Farms, both powered in 2016.

With the addition of the Rattlesnake Solar Farm project, United Power now has more than 43 megawatts of utility-scale solar connected to its system, in addition to more than 5,500 residential rooftop systems.

United Power launched its first solar project in 2010 with the innovative community solar garden. A first of its kind in Colorado, the project allowed members who were unable to install rooftop solar to rent panels from the cooperative and receive a credit for the energy it produced. Two years later in 2012, the cooperative’s first utility-scale solar farm — Hangar 160 — was powered.

“Time and again our members have shown us they would like to see us invest more in renewable resources like our solar farms,” Danforth said. “We are constantly looking for ways to add affordable and reliable renewable projects to our portfolio. But these projects aren’t just for looks; they’re also a means for us to be able to offer competitive rates to our members.”

United Power has been a part of several innovative energy projects over the past few years. To learn more about the cooperative’s energy projects, go to Innovative Energy.

We spend all year thinking about ways to effectively monitor and reduce our energy usage, but that becomes more difficult during the holidays. We’re often distracted with decorations and preparations, shopping, cooking and planning. It can be easy to let your guard down and start to see more excessive energy usage than you might have otherwise expected.

However you choose to celebrate this season, United Power has you covered with the most up-to-date energy efficiency tips and tricks to prevent holiday usage spikes. With a little forethought and diligence, it’s easy to find a little savings during this time of year.

Replace Christmas Lights with LEDs

Updating the lighting in your home is one of the quickest and easiest ways to reduce your energy usage and costs. Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are a well-known alternative to traditional lights, and are quickly becoming standard lighting. While many people are making the switch to these lights in their homes, they still might reach for the older, less efficient string lights they’ve always used when decorating for the holidays.

Depending on how festive your holiday display is, the cost of using these lights can really begin to add up – perhaps to the tune of hundreds of dollars! Christmas lights that utilize LEDs, however, are up to 90 percent more efficient and have a far longer life than traditional incandescent lights.

Beware the Holiday Vampires

United Power has regularly talked about vampire loads, which are quickly becoming larger consumers of energy. Vampire loads come from devices that continue to use energy even when they appear to be off, such as TVs, gaming consoles or charging devices. Holiday lights can also contribute to these loads when they stay plugged in throughout the day while not in use. To avoid the additional energy usage, unplug lights during the day or before bed in the evening, or you can plug them into a power strip that can be turned off when not in use.

Give the Gift of Energy Savings

Electronics have become a more common gift item over the past few years, many of which have the capability of using large quantities of energy. “Green gifting” is the practice of gifting electronics that are certified energy efficient, such as those marked by the ENERGY STAR label. These devices are at or better than federal standards for energy efficiency. This allows you to pass on the gift of energy savings to friends and family.

For more energy efficiency tips to help you save on usage throughout the year, visit our Energy Tips page.

Cooperative Board of Directors Approves 2021 Budget at November Meeting

United Power is pleased to announce there will be no rate increase in 2021. The decision from the cooperative’s Board of Directors was made in November upon approval of the 2021 budget and rate structure. For many members, who have had to endure a tumultuous past few months or have been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the news could not have come at a better time.

Rates were able to remain steady thanks to the forethought of cooperative leadership, who recognized the potential financial impact the pandemic could have and took immediate action to reduce spending in various departments. Just as businesses and homeowners adjusted spending, each team at United Power was tasked with evaluating initiatives that could either save money or be delayed without impacting service.

“United Power has been fortunate during this time,” said Laurie Burkhart, the cooperative’s chief financial officer. “We haven’t seen the same level of impact as many other cooperatives, and that’s due in large part to the actions our teams have taken, as well as continued growth we’ve seen. It’s allowed us to keep our rates from increasing and provide some small relief to our members.”

A variety of factors allowed the cooperative to keep rates steady, but perhaps chief among them has been the amount of growth seen throughout the service area, despite the pandemic. The slowdown United Power anticipated on its system never materialized. Instead, another strong year in residential and business growth, as well as load growth, helped fuel its ability to weather the storm. Other shifts in the ways our members interacted with us this year made small, but noticeable, changes to costs. Member enrollment in services like online account management and paperless billing was also a factor, which helped the cooperative improve efficiencies and provided real savings.

While keeping the current rate structures may ease the burden for many residential members, it could be especially impactful for local organizations like school districts and businesses that may be facing tough budget years ahead as a result of slower sales or state budget cuts. Steady electric rates are one less thing for larger members to plan for when making end of year budget adjustments.

Many members may realize some small benefit from stable rates in the coming year, but United Power has also prioritized the pursuit of more affordable and competitive rates for several years. The cooperative has had ongoing discussions with its wholesale power provider, Tri-State Generation & Transmission, that would allow it to eventually lower rates as much as 15% to 25% in the next few years.

“United Power has worked closely with Tri-State for several years to provide reliable and affordable rates to our members,” said acting CEO Bryant Robbins. “Efforts continue to be made in looking at all of our options with Tri-State to reach our rate reduction goals. We are also looking at other power supply options should we not be able to come to an acceptable agreement. My hope is to provide our Board with a couple of great options so that they can make the decision that they feel is in the best interest of our membership.”

In a cooperative, we all share in the expense and prosperity, and members who were able to continue paying bills helped United Power maintain its positive financial condition. For those who were impacted by job loss or illness and unable to pay their bills, the cooperative established the Co-op Cares Fund to provide financial assistance and ease the burden on both members and the co-op. This year $300,000 was allocated to the fund from unclaimed capital credits. In October, the Board approved an additional allocation of $250,000 for members in 2021.

United Power understands our members have different needs and use electricity in vastly different ways. United Power’s residential rates are designed so members have the option to choose one that most closely fits how they use energy. When the cooperative’s demand rate debuted in January 2019, it separated the energy and demand components and allowed the cooperative to more fairly charge members for both their energy use and impact on the grid. Along with it, the cooperative also rolled out the Smart Choice Rate, which provided two different peak demand charges and a much lower energy charge. Earlier this year, United Power added a Peak Time of Day rate, which encourages members to switch their usage to off-peak hours. The new rate charges a higher demand for on-peak usage, but does not charge for demand during off-peak hours. The cooperative’s standard and time of day rates also remain options for members.

However you use your energy, the flexibility of the cooperative’s residential rates should meet most members’ needs. You can compare the demand and energy charges of each rate and choose the one that most closely fits how you and your family use energy on the Residential Rates page.