Today, United Power enjoys a seat as one of the most progressive cooperatives across the country. Over the past 80 years, United Power has reached milestones few other cooperatives have, but not without first overcoming a few seasons of turbulence. This is the first in a three part series chronicling the cooperative’s history leading up to its 80th Annual Meeting this April. 

In June 1938, shortly after Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electric Administration, a group of local farmers in the counties northeast of Denver met to discuss the possibility of forming a cooperative to meet their needs. In October of that year, Union Rural Electric Association was born. The cooperative began construction on lines that would first serve members in late January of 1940. 

Though the outbreak of WWII paused development, growth continued through the 1950s. During that time, Union REA entered a competitive territory battle with the state’s largest public utility, Public Service Company of Colorado (now Xcel Energy), which had begun to see the areas lucrative potential. The battle over service territory would continue throughout the 1980s.

Legislation passed in 1961 finally recognized Union REA, and all other utilities in the state, as full-fledged public utilities with the right to serve certified territories, temporarily halting PSCo’s encroachment on the cooperative’s territory. However, Union REA agreed to allow PSCo to serve some of the fastest growing towns in its territory following a negotiation in 1964. 

In the 1970s, PSCo broke faith with the cooperative as growth exploded in the area during that time. The public utility began aggressively claiming territory beyond what Union REA felt was outlined in the agreement. During that time, Union lost nearly 2000 accounts, and many more were considered “at-risk.” In 1987, the Public Utilities Commission declared the agreement invalid in favor of the cooperative, triggering PSCo to initiate a takeover attempt later that year.

Now more than 10,000 members strong, the cooperative’s healthy growth, combined with the proximity to the Denver metro area, made Union an attractive takeover target. PSCo offered to buy out the cooperative for $62.5 million and compensate members with a $500 cash payout to replace lost capital credits. Union REA leadership felt the offer was disingenuous, and communicated directly with membership until a vote on Saturday, August 22, 1987. Union members ultimately voted against the takeover, placing their faith in the promise of the cooperative future. 
 

In October, lights went on for the first time in two villages nestled deep in the jungles of northwest Guatemala. After weeks of grueling manual labor in adverse conditions far from home, line crews from Oklahoma and Colorado completed work on a project to provide the villages of Pie del Cerro and Tierra Blanca Salinas the gift of electricity. 

Between long days caused by the lack of major equipment and staving off dehydration brought on by dense jungle humidity, crews often returned to their rooms late in the evening exhausted – ready to do it again the next day. 

“Nothing came easy,” United Power lineman Kelly Snow said. “We had to gut it out each and every day. But even on the worst days, everyone showed up and gave it their all. We came to accomplish something, and we did.”

Line crews were stationed in the small city of Playa Grande, located roughly 300 miles from Guatemala City. Each morning, crews loaded into trucks and traversed dirt-packed and often jarring roads to the villages they’d be powering nearly an hour away.  

Once there, work had to be completed without the use of specialized tools or mechanical equipment, and vehicles were to be used for transportation only. 

Snow, who’s experienced the worst working conditions as a lineman in Colorado’s Front Range, said it’s hard to prepare for the difficulties of working in a third world country.

“It’s like stepping back in time,” he said. “We talked to others who were on projects before us and looked at all the photos, but there are still elements of the unknown. It’s hot and humid the whole time; hard to stay hydrated.”

Despite the harsh working conditions, crews were able to complete the first half of the project in just over a week – providing power to the first of the two villages – and the whole project on time.

“I’m proud to have been a part of this project to provide power to these families and kids,” Snow said. “It gives these kids the chance to continue their studies, and maybe even opens the door for computers or cell phones one day.”

Brief reprieves gave Snow and other linemen an opportunity to spend some time building relationships with villagers, playing games with the children and exploring the nearby jungle and lakes. 

Above and beyond providing electricity, the crews were also able to gift each household with two-year water filters and each school with a laptop and wheelchair.

“The Rural Electric Association was founded on the principal of bringing electricity to rural America,” Snow said just before the project. “It’s an inspiration to be a part of that foundation and spreading it to other countries.”

Utilities throw around terms like distribution system, electric infrastructure and “the grid.” But as an electric consumer – and cooperative member – have you given much thought into how you use the electric system, and your role in maintaining that system? 

Our distribution electric system, or grid, is a network of poles, wires, transformers and substations – all interconnected to deliver the power you need, when you need it. The system is carefully engineered to meet the needs of the energy consumers connected to it, while ensuring the installation, operation and maintenance is economical. 

Costs to maintain the system aren’t just based on the power you buy, system infrastructure costs are also attributed to how much power you use at a given time. When you use more power at once, you’re creating a higher demand on the system. These surges in demand have a greater impact on the grid, so they cost more money. 

With the traditional blended rate where the impact of demand surges is rolled up into a charge based on the power used, some members have been paying more than they should, while others aren’t paying enough. But here’s the thing: whether you use a lot of energy, a little energy, or generate your own, we all need a reliable grid to be there when we need it. 

By separating demand and energy components on your bill, we are more fairly distributing these costs to members based on how they use power. Each member will now pay their fair share of the cooperative distribution system they rely on.

If you want more information on how you use power, login to the Power Portal to view your usage and demand trends. Visit www.unitedpower.com/powerportal to begin. Find your high demand periods, think back to what was running in your home, and then stagger those appliances moving forward. The grid, and your wallet, will thank you. 

If you have additional questions about the demand rate and how it will impact you, email unitednewsline@unitedpower.com.

Demand for Electricity is like Demand for Water

You can fill the same 5-gallon bucket with either a garden hose, or a fire hose. A garden hose will not fill as quickly – but the hose costs less to operate, and the impact on the water system is minimal. Fill that same bucket with a fire hose, and it will fill up very quickly, but the surge of water from a fire hose requires larger pipes and a more expensive hose. In the end, both buckets would be full with the same amount of water, but filling a bucket more slowly – smoothing the water use over time – creates less demand on the system and costs less to do.