Recipients Received $7,500 for Enrollment Costs at a Dedicated Power Line Program

Keeping the lights on is difficult and requires a detailed understanding of how electrical systems work. Without proper training and instruction, however, it can also be incredibly dangerous. Power line programs prepare individuals with the skills and safety awareness necessary for their future careers as lineworkers. As beneficial electrification accelerates across the country, it is also a field that is in high demand. Lineworkers often have access to excellent opportunities including job security, high pay, and exceptional benefits.

United Power awarded four lineworker scholarships to Colorado residents pursuing a career in the profession as part of its Community Benefit Plan through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program. 

Parker Horton, Divide, CO
Trinidad State Rocky Mountain Lineman School

Horton became interested in a professional career as a lineworker after a conversation with a close family friend, mentor, and retired lineworker. Horton found the career pathway compelling because of its vital role in providing access to electricity, and is eager to contribute to an essential service. 

Zackery Johnson, Thornton, CO
Trinidad State Rocky Mountain Lineman School

Johnson is pursuing a career as a lineworker because he wants to provide power for the community and provide help after natural disasters. Johnson said enrolling in a power line program interested him because he would like to learn more about the electrical system that powers the country. 

Katie Killinen, Bayfield, CO
Colorado Mesa University Tech, Electrical Lineworker Program

Killinen was an intern for La Plata Electric Association over the summer in 2024. She is pursuing line work as a career because it is challenging and rewarding and also enables her to work outside and problem solve with other people. She finds the concepts and theories in electrical work interesting. 

Griffin Steele, Fort Collins, CO
Trinidad State Rocky Mountain Lineman School

Steele has been working with Fort Collins Water for a year, but has been looking for an opportunity to pursue line work. His favorite part of working in utilities is the sense of purpose it provides. Line work would add a challenge to that sense of purpose and provide a stable long-term career. 

Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” 

This quote from Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is often paraphrased, “If you don’t know where you are going, then any road will get you there.” It speaks to the fact that a lack of direction can create challenges instead of opportunities and simply reinforces the status quo.

Having strategic direction, especially in times of significant societal and technological change, is critical. That is why the amazing team at United Power, supported by your Board of Directors, has unveiled the second version of Our Cooperative Roadmap (Roadmap). This document gives the co-op its direction and helps us screen activities in — as well as out.

The Roadmap v1.0 led us to where we are today. We have reduced our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 26% since May 1 and successfully raised $700 million to evolve as an independent utility and meet the needs of our communities and more than 113,000 members. The Roadmap helped us obtain $261 million through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program to support the transition to a cleaner energy supply and hyper-localize our resources. It clarified our technology investments, how we interact with members, and our role in supporting our communities.

Much has changed nearly three years after we unveiled the initial Roadmap. The western United States is edging closer to a power market and new power sources have come online. More members are adding solar panels and purchasing electric vehicles. But much has also remained the same, such as Colorado’s goal of 80% reduction in GHG emissions over 2005 levels by 2030 — a goal we will meet or exceed by helping members such as those in the oil and gas industry achieve their targets simply by electrifying the production facilities.

The Roadmap v2.0 maintains its focus on four critical areas that lie at the heart of what we do as a member-owned electric cooperative:

• Empower and Engage with Members and Communities. This critical element ties directly to United Power’s Community Benefit Plan through New ERA. Our dedicated focus on supporting communities and members made creating the benefit plan a simple task for our team.
• Provide Flexible, Affordable, Responsible Power and Services. United Power’s hyperlocalization strategy has resulted in significant deployment of battery energy storage systems, with more than 110 MWs spread across nine substations. It already proved valuable during last summer’s peak. This industry-leading deployment means we can benefit from times when power prices are low, using the stored energy when demand (and prices) are high.
• Continuously Optimize the Electric Distribution System. As we move toward becoming a distribution system operator (DSO), focusing on local generation and control, our system investments are made with your future needs in mind. We installed a new outage management system in 2024 that, coupled with our advanced metering infrastructure, gives us better real-time operational data.
• Achieve and Maintain Business Agility and Resilience. We will be replacing our distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) in 2025 to better manage system operations, and are rolling out a new asset management tool to improve our response times and better manage material and projects.

Underpinning Our Cooperative Roadmap are the amazing women and men of United Power and the foundational responsibilities they bring to running your cooperative every day.

Lewis Carroll’s words resonate for me when he said, “One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others.” It sure sounds so to me.

As always, feel free to reach out to me with your questions, comments, and concerns.
 

Members Select Nonprofits to Receive Cooperative Grants

Adams County Food Bank

The Adams County Food Bank helps relieve food insecurity among families, seniors, and children in Commerce City, Thornton, Westminster, and across 34 zip codes throughout the county. It is the largest organization in Adams County working to alleviate hunger.

Crescent Park Community Fire Protection Association

The association’s mission is to protect people, properties, animals, and the environment from wildfires through outreach, education, and fire mitigation, and creating defensible space and emergency evacuation plans.

Community Uplift Partnership (CUP)

Young adults are some of the most vibrant people in our communities. Community Uplift Partnership (CUP) reminds them they have value beyond a paycheck, strengthens them to conquer barriers to employment opportunities that provide sustainable wages, and equips them to make better decisions for their futures.

Happiness Through Horses

Happiness Through Horses enriches the lives of individuals of all ages, with a special emphasis on youth, through meaningful interactions with horses and sanctuary animals. They offer programs promoting mental health, personal growth, and educational development.

Sparkling Kindness

Sparkling Kindness is a small nonprofit operating out of Commerce City. It provides support to the local community by distributing basic hygiene kits, feminine hygiene kits, and “comfort” kits (consisting of fleece blankets, socks, stuffed animals, coloring books, crayons, and chapstick).

Stand & Fight

Stand & Fight seeks to encourage children enduring life-threatening illnesses by awakening their warrior within. They take a stand for dignity and positivity during medical treatment while recognizing the courage needed to fight. Stand & Fight offers recognition as well as port and picc-line adaptive apparel, in addition to other items.