Francis Ashu, Vice President of Member Services, United Power, received a 2024 Alltricity Network Industry Leadership Award during the annual 2024 Alltricity Network Fall Convention on Wednesday, September 18th.

The Industry Leadership Award recognizes individuals whose leadership has made contributions that have made an impact within their organization. These individuals are often active in various industry affiliations, associations and/or organizations that serve the electric energy industry.

Francis joined United Power in 2018 as the Director of Member Services and has served as the Vice President of Member Services since 2022. He has demonstrated outstanding leadership throughout his years of service with the company. Just prior to Francis coming on board, the member services team voted to unionize and ratified a contract. Francis took the helm at a critical time providing guidance to his leadership team on how to manage employees under a collective bargaining unit and working to repair the relationship between management and employees to forge a brighter path for the future.

In addition, Francis has implemented several software solutions including a call center platform, a chat feature on the United Power website with direct access to live representatives, and a customer relationship management software that have significantly improved efficiency and effectiveness with serving the electric distribution members. Francis’ efforts to improve the member service experience contribute directly to supporting United Power’s Cooperative Roadmap - specifically “engage with our members in meaningful ways.”

About Alltricity Network (formerly known as RMEL):

At Alltricity Network, we are redefining what’s possible in electrical energy. We are a diverse community of people who support the US electric energy industry, and together – united through education, networking, and training – our impact is stronger.

Alltricity Network is a not-for-profit energy trade association that has served the electric utility industry with a variety of education and networking services since 1903. Alltricity Network’s mission is: Preparing the electric energy industry for the future through education and networking. Formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Electrical League and RMEL, the association officially became Alltricity Network in the 2024 to better reflect a membership base that spans the entire country.

For more information about Alltricity Network, visit our website: AlltricityNetwork.org.

NOTICE OF MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS TO AMEND THE BYLAWS OF UNITED POWER, INC.

DATE OF NOTICE: September 6, 2024

NOTICE OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE BYLAWS OF UNITED POWER, INC. 
500 COOPERATIVE WAY, BRIGHTON, COLORADO 80603.

The Board of Directors Proposes to amend the Bylaws of United Power, Inc. as follows:

• Establishes eligibility requirements for any director candidate to assure he/she is in good standing with the cooperative.
• Extending the required period of membership for eligible director candidates from two (2) years to three (3) years.
• Extending the required period for a prior cooperative employee, prior employee of a statewide association of electric cooperatives, an electric generation and transmission cooperative, material supply cooperative, financial cooperative, national electric cooperative, or other entity in which the electric cooperative is a member, or has been a member, or a close relative of a prior employee of the cooperative must wait before being eligible to serve as a director from three (3) years to ten (10) years.
• Defines the requirements a person representing a legal entity must meet to be eligible to be a candidate for a director. 

A complete redline of the proposed changes is available on the cooperative’s website at www.unitedpower.com, or members may obtain a hardcopy at any United Power office, or via mail by calling 303-637-1300 and requesting that a copy be mailed to them at the address on file with the cooperative.

Pursuant to Article 11, Section 8 of the Bylaws of United Power Inc., you are hereby notified that the Board of Directors of United Power, Inc. proposes to adopt the following amendment(s) to United Power’s bylaws at a meeting of the Board to be held on October 23, 2024, unless a written petition is filed at United Power’s headquarters before close of business on October 22, 2024, signed by 100 or more Members, protesting the proposed amendments. 

UNITED POWER, INC. By: /s/Stephen Whiteside, Secretary of the Board
 

Weeks–Long Initiative Brought Power to More Than 150 Families

“It is indescribably upsetting that anyone in this day and age should not have access to electricity.” 

Apprentice Lineworker Isaiah Segoviano is one of two United Power employees who spent a week in July working in the grueling Arizona heat helping build the infrastructure necessary to supply hundreds of Navajo families with the life-changing resource of electricity. The mutual aid initiative, called Light Up Navajo, is aimed at connecting the people of the Navajo Nation to power, and is made possible by the cooperative efforts of more than 250 volunteers from 48 utilities across 16 states. 

The Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized Native American reservation in the United States, occupying an area greater than 27,000 square miles across parts of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Many of its residents are currently living without electricity because large land parcels, passed through several generations of Navajo tribal families, are in isolated locations that are often difficult and cost-prohibitive to serve.

Electric cooperatives uniquely understand the struggle for electrification. Before the Rural Electrification Act was passed in 1936, larger electric utilities ignored requests from American families living by the light of kerosene lamps in sparsely populated rural areas. Cooperatives were formed to power these rural areas, and while power was flowing to more than 90% of farms by the early 1950s, the Navajo Nation did not reap the same benefits. It would have to wait until 1959 before the Navajo Tribal Utilities Authority (NTUA) was founded. At the time of its creation, the NTUA was only a small water utility operating out of New Mexico. It has grown into the largest multi-utility owned and operated by an American Indian tribe but has had to play catch up to provide electrification for its vast territory. 

The NTUA has conducted an ambitious years–long effort to provide electricity to nearly 7,800 homes within the territory, but more than 13,000 still remain without access. The Light Up Navajo initiative was launched in 2018 in coordination with the American Public Power Association to address the great needs of families living in the Navajo Nation. United Power’s Segoviano and Logan Steele, Troubleshooter, joined the initiative’s fifth project phase. 

“We were working 12-hour shifts in 100-degree weather to set poles and string lights,” said Segoviano. “But at the end of the day, the people were so grateful, and it was heartwarming to witness families receive power for the first time in their lives.”

United Power sent two trucks and additional electrical equipment with Segoviano and Steele who helped set approximately 70 poles and string miles of line over six days in July. During the project’s 13-week window from mid-April to July, crews strung a total of 50 miles of line and provided power to 150 homes despite difficult terrain and extreme temperatures.

Light Up Navajo’s first phase was able to plant more than 3,400 poles and string nearly 60 miles of line to provide power to 233 homes in 2019. Subsequent phases and mutual aid programs have connected nearly 500 additional homes. NTUA has since been able to provide an additional 2,500 homes with electricity.

“The workers with NTUA expressed their gratitude to us for offering our availability to help with this project,” said Segoviano. “They said that we are their forever brothers.”

Electric cooperatives were established more than 85 years ago to bring electricity to unserved communities like those in the Navajo Nation. United Power has a long history of supporting projects designed to deliver power to difficult locations or remote communities, both locally and internationally. The cooperative sent a representative to help power mountain villages in Guatemala in 2018 and 2019. Everyone should have access to electricity and the life-changing opportunities it provides, and these projects demonstrate a tangible commitment to the co-op principles upon which United Power was founded.

United Power is pleased to announce the hiring of Jenna Hirsch to the newly created position of Vice President of Environmental, Health, Safety, and Risk.

“Jenna is an exciting hire for the cooperative,” said Mark A. Gabriel, United Power President and CEO. “Her background in the electric industry is extensive, and the cooperative’s ongoing focus on the safety of both our employees and the public warrants strong leadership in this area.”

Hirsch holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology from Metropolitan State University of Denver and a Master of Science in Health and Safety from the University of Denver. Most recently, she served as the Director of Safety and Loss Control for the Colorado Rural Electric Association, providing support and oversight of safety programs for rural electric cooperatives across the state. Her diverse work history includes safety work with the electric generation and transmission industry and in the oil and gas sector.

“United Power’s focus on safety underpins every initiative of the cooperative,” said Gabriel. “The importance of our safety culture is outlined in detail in both our guiding document, Our Cooperative Roadmap, and in the cooperative’s Social Responsibility Report. Any conversation we have at United Power – with leadership, among employees, or with our board – is built on this overarching concept of ‘safety first.’ I am confident that Jenna will bring the innovation and careful oversight we need to this critical aspect of our industry.”

Brighton, CO – United Power, Inc. is partnering with Kindle Energy LLC (Kindle) to add 162 megawatts (MW) of peaking natural gas capacity on its system in Keenesburg, CO. As the state of Colorado transitions away from coal-fired energy production, this project will provide United Power greater flexibility when power costs are at their highest and ensure reliability and resource adequacy in times of low renewable energy production and extreme weather conditions.

“The integration of this peaking natural gas unit is key to our ongoing energy transition,” said Mark A. Gabriel, President and CEO of United Power. “To remain responsive to our members’ needs as we move away from a single wholesale power supplier, this project will provide the necessary flexibility we need on our system. It is just one more tool in our toolbox that will help us better meet the varied needs of our members and provide more predictable costs in the future.”

The natural gas units will be installed at the Mountain Peak Power plant in Keenesburg, which is adjacent to United Power’s Tesla Substation. The proximity of a natural gas pipeline to the substation property was key to making this installation an economical one for the cooperative, and a quicker construction project for Kindle Energy. Additionally, the unit is considered “hydrogen-ready,” which means it is also designed to run on fuels with hydrogen content once commercially viable, increasing the unit’s versatility. When in operation, which is planned for June 2025, Mountain Peak Power is expected to deliver up to 162 MW, to support the ongoing energy transition in the state. 

Lee Davis, CEO of Kindle Energy, said, “Kindle is excited to partner with United Power on the Mountain Peak Power project, supporting their transition to cleaner energy sources. The Mountain Peak Power project is important to Kindle because it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to bring strong solutions with flexible, reliable generation to support the ongoing transition to a greener energy portfolio.”

United Power transitioned away from a single wholesale power supplier in May of this year, with a vision to create a more flexible power delivery system that would provide cooperative members with predictable costs and allow for the integration of various local energy sources. In addition to this peaking unit, the cooperative has invested in batteries at eight substations throughout the service territory to help balance load during high use periods and to provide critical back up generation.

“We appreciate how quickly Kindle is able to make this installation a reality,” said Gabriel. “Thanks go out to all our working partners at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and leaders in Weld County for their coordination and foresight.” 

To learn more about United Power’s energy transition and our varied sources of power, visit the cooperative’s website 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 more than 112,000 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. United Power is also a founding member of the NextGen Cooperative Alliance, which is dedicated to expanding the power supply and procurement options available to distribution co-ops and reforming the traditional generation and transmission business model. For more information about United Power, visit www.unitedpower.com or follow the cooperative on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

About Kindle Energy

Kindle Energy is a power generation development and asset management firm based in Princeton, NJ.  With over 11GW currently under management, Kindle Energy offers customized approaches to investing in, operating, and managing power generation assets in North America. Supporting Utilities, Co-Ops, Municipals and other energy facility owners, Kindle Energy is focused on providing creative solutions to the complex energy issues of today to allow customers to focus on their core business.

Please visit https://kindle-energy.com/ to see more details.

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