We’ve incorporated feedback from members like you to provide you with an easier to read bill. In the coming months, you’ll receive a newly designed billing statement that has been streamlined and re-organized so you can find the information you need as quickly and easily as possible. 

A quick glance at the new statement will allow you to easily see how much energy you used, the total amount due and the payment due date. The new design also includes more information about your energy use and consumption history, and more information relevant to members taking advantage of rebates, billing programs and those with net-metered service locations.

More information about how to read the new bill will be included in your first statement with the new look. Watch your mailbox or your SmartHub statement alerts for your new United Power billing statement. 
 

If you’ve seen your electric usage trickle up over the past couple months, it might have something to do with Colorado’s hot summer weather. By mid-July, the state had already experienced more than 30 days of temperatures higher than 90 degrees, breaking a July 2012 temperature record. 

While the excessive heat wave has probably contributed to some increase in your energy usage, there are some other factors that may have, as well. It’s a good time to talk about those reasons, and how you can use your air conditioning in a way that keeps you comfortable without the added burden on your bill. 

Summer vacation is over for school age kids, but for the past two months, they’ve been spending more time at home while you’re at work. That means more time running the air conditioning, playing on electronics and maybe even cooking. All those things require more energy. 

Along with having kids home during the weekday, maybe you or your family recently purchased a pool or used your existing pool more often to escape the summer heat. Water features, like pool pumps, use a lot of extra energy. 

Seemingly small things can also contribute extra energy usage over the summer. Remembering to close windows and blinds, which block solar heat from entering your home, can keep the house a little cooler. Programmable smart thermostats also give you control when you’re away from the home. You can turn the air conditioning on when you’re about to head home or turn it off if you’re out and forgot. 

The summer months are coming to an end and the kids are back in school, but there are a few tips and tricks you can use to help save a little more energy until fall rolls around or even when summer returns next year. 

Start with growth prevention. Grass and other plants can grow up around outside air conditioning units, making it more difficult for them to breathe, potentially freezing coils. Take a few extra moments each week to make sure any excess growth around your unit has been cleared. 

When you return home from a long day at work or out with the family, turn on your ceiling fan before the air conditioning. The breeze the fan creates will evaporate moisture from your skin and make you feel cooler, even when room temperatures are a few degrees warmer. Remember to turn off fans when you leave a room, though.

If you’re new to Colorado, you might not be familiar with the advantages the climate here provides. Opening your windows before going to bed allows cool air to move through your home so you can keep the air conditioning off. Remember to close windows early in the morning and pull blinds on the south and west sides of your home later in the day. 

Another quick and easy technique you can utilize is weatherstripping. Air leaks from your home through cracks around windows, doors and even the foundation. Applying weatherstripping and caulking seals in cool air and prevents hot air from entering. 
 

Each summer, United Power selects youth who stand out from among their peers to represent the coop for a week in the mountains of northwest Colorado, immersing themselves in learning the value of cooperatives. With more than 100 fellow leaders from Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming, campers are able to craft new friendships and develop leadership skills they can model in their schools and communities back home. 

The 2018 Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp isn’t a camp in the traditional sense. There are no tents, no campfires, no s’mores. While there is time for fun, there’s much to cover and little time to do it during the weeklong camp. A lot of time and effort goes on behind the scenes to piece together an experience that is both challenging and entertaining for those attending, and it begins as soon as the buses and vans roll in to deposit campers from their respective cooperatives. 

On Day 1, campers were ushered into a valley in an outcropping behind the cluster of cabins where they would begin the process of establishing and managing their own cooperative for the week, including the selection of a Board of Directors, selecting a general manager and holding regular meetings with their “members.” In between, days are filled with cooperative-focused activities, leadership training and collaborative group projects.

Being a part of a cooperative isn’t all business all the time, however. Whether it was building camaraderie while rafting down the Colorado River, enjoying the breathtaking views atop Mt. Werner or competing in the annual volleyball tournament, there were ample opportunities built in for taking a break and having fun. 

This summer, two area youth represented United Power at the Youth Leadership Camp: Brooklyn Stubby, of Mapleton Early College, and Catera Gagna, of Brighton High School.

Applications for the 2019 Youth Leadership Camp will be available at the end of 2018. Visit www.unitedpower.com to learn more.