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Hodge, Whitmore Honored
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Friday | November 3, 2017
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Mary Hodge, Adams County Commissioner, and Troy Whitmore, United Power Public Affairs Officer received the distinguished Alumni of the Plains award from Pro 15 at their annual Fall Conference held in October.
Mary Hodge, Adams County Commissioner, and Troy Whitmore, United Power Public Affairs Officer received the distinguished Alumni of the Plains award from Pro 15 at their annual Fall Conference held in October. Commissioner Hodge was also inducted into the Pro 15 Legislative Hall of Fame.
Hodge, a United Power member, graduated from high school in Idalia, Colo., and prior to serving as an Adams County Commissioner, she served in the Colorado State Legislature in both the House and Senate. Whitmore graduated from high school in Haxtun, Colo. and has been with United Power for 31 years. He has served the community on the Thornton City Council, Brighton Economic Development Council, MetroNorth Chamber of Commerce Board and Government Affairs Committee, Northeastern Junior College Alumni Association and the Colorado 4-H and Colorado FFA Foundations.
The Alumni of the Plains award was established eleven years ago to recognize individuals who graduated from a high school in one of the 15 counties in Northeast Colorado, and who have excelled in their profession. Progressive 15 (Pro 15) is the collective voice of 15 counties in Northeast Colorado—advocating for legislation and policy that impact the economic vitality of the region.
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Home Appliances: 6 Ways to Save
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Friday | February 25, 2022
Card Teaser
Take some easy steps to save on the operation of your appliances, or boost your savings with a new appliance rebate from your co-op.
Our appliances make life easier and help tackle the manual tasks of housework, but there’s a cost to this convenience. Many newer models are designed to be energy efficient, but why not take measures that will help you save even more energy and money?
Run a full load. Wash clothes and dishes with a full load only; partial loads waste energy and water. Load your dishwasher according to the manufacturer's instructions. Fill the racks completely to maximize water and energy use but allow for adequate water circulation to ensure clean dishes.
Stay cool and fresh. Set refrigerator and freezer thermostats at the recommended temperature settings: 37°F to 40°F for the refrigerator, and 5°F for the freezer. It will help optimize energy savings while keeping foods fresh.
Stock the fridge. A fully stocked unit uses less energy because there is less air to cool. Avoid overfilling; too many items packed together closely will reduce air circulation.
Keep your dryer dry. Clean the lint filter after each dryer load; this will increase air circulation and improve dryer efficiency. Inspect your dryer vent periodically to ensure that it's not blocked.
Air your clean laundry. When doing laundry, why not air-dry your clothes? It will reduce energy costs, and it may help to keep clothes looking new.
Get cooking efficiently. Use your microwave or toaster oven rather than the stovetop or oven. These smaller appliances often heat food more quickly, while using less energy. If you do use the stovetop, match the pan size to the burner size, and cover pots and pans.
Boost your Savings with an Energy Smart Rebate
Looking to upgrade to more efficient appliances? Replace older appliances with new ENERGY STAR®-certified efficient models. These products are the best of the best, delivering cutting-edge energy efficiency along with the latest in technological innovation.
United Power members can boost their savings with rebates on a variety of ENERGY STAR® and select efficient electric appliances. View the complete menu of Energy Smart Rebates to reduce the cost your new appliance purchase.
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How to Modernize the Electric Grid: Rethinking Our Vision
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Monday | August 2, 2021
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Modernization of the electric grid should not be the singular focus of spending in the United States, rather we should also be targeting our efforts and dollars at specific projects that will make the most immediate impacts.
Modernization of the electric grid should not be the singular focus of spending in the United States, rather we should also be targeting our efforts and dollars at specific projects that will make the most immediate impacts. Billions are spent every year on upgrading the system and adding intelligence to the grid and are always balanced against the impacts on rates and customers. Even with unlimited checkbooks on transmission – California and Texas are great examples – system issues can occur.
As a country, we should dream big but equally critical are to make improvements that can have an immediate impact on improving the nation’s infrastructure. The vision of seven hundred and sixty-five megawatt lines crisscrossing the U.S. is a “BHAG” – big, hairy audacious goal – that should be pursued.
However, with even the simplest transmission project taking a decade or more, we should take some specific, short- and medium-term actions.
It is also important to realize while permitting is slow, money is currently available to invest in transmission. The hang up is in assuring the line will be used and commitments made to guarantee the offtake of power. In other words, if no demand backed by financial arrangements, no construction. So, what projects do I believe can and should be done today?
Rebuild the seven AC/DC ties between the Eastern and Western grid. At a cost of roughly thirty million, this project could be complete in less than eighteen months.
Expand the Mead Substation at Hoover Dam into a renewable energy hub. This project will take between twenty-four to thirty-six months to complete. It is at the base of the El Dorado Valley, connects to California, and is the ideal spot for a robust hub.
Complete the Intertie Project started in 1964. In forty-eight months or less, the two hundred and seventy-five miles of transmission could be built that would loop the Pacific Northwest across the west and into the Southwest Power Pool.
Widen our focus and fund technology that benefits the nation and not just a single region. Concentrate those efforts on grid cybersecurity, as well as advanced system sensing to anticipate and avoid issues.
Another key area is to create a cohesive national effort to enhance wildfire tools and technology, including the expansion of right-of-way tree clearing. Encourage or standardize the use of coated cables, especially in areas when undergrounding is limited by terrain or cost.
Create an incentive structure that supports our end goals for improvements in the grid. Pay higher incentives for the power solutions that are really needed: pay a higher rate of return for lines that serve grids wider than a single state, quit paying for redundant infrastructure, and guarantee offtake as a fundamental component of the incentive structure.
Create real markets that span time zones and weather conditions and empower those entities to support. This should also include an RTO to coordinate offshore wind and provide the trading and management platform.
Finally, recognize that transmission is best suited to fix the growing energy divide. The digital divide is often spoken of in our country when the energy divide is an even greater one to navigate for underserved or unserved communities. The “haves” can afford solar panels and storage, while the “have nots” are paying the price. The haves can create microgrids – which serve a purpose – but also serve to create a balkanized electrical system.
Our current business models hang on an engineering measurement – the kilowatt/megawatt hour paradigm. This paradigm is no longer valid when the haves can move their energy supply off the grid for a portion of the day while the have nots pay the carrying costs. We need to move beyond a simple engineering focus on our grid and the delivery of power and understand the far-reaching effects being created with our inherently uneven system.
The question to be asking is how can we effectively grow our grid to realize all the intrinsic potential, and bring all our citizens along to enjoy those benefits? Let us dream for the future and act for today.
This article recently appeared in August 2021 Public Utilities Fortnightly. Read the original article here.
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How to Use New Payment Kiosks
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Tuesday | December 10, 2019
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United Power has placed payment kiosks at two office locations this year.
United Power has payment kiosks at our Brighton, Coal Creek and Carbon Valley office locations. These easy-to-use and hassle-free kiosks accept cash, credit card or check payments. Cash and credit card payments made using a kiosk are applied to your account immediately, and accounts subject to disconnection are restored immediately upon payment.
To make a payment at one of these kiosks, bring your United Power account number and a form of payment.
Set Up Your Fast Pass for Quick Access
To make your transactions faster, there is an option to set up a “Fast Pass,” which will be prompted once you complete a successful transaction. You’ll create a 4-digit PIN and receive a printed barcode.
The next time you visit a United Power payment kiosk, select “Fast Pass” and quickly find your account with the barcode/PIN or the phone number you used when setting up your Fast Pass.
Please be careful to enter the correct phone and account numbers when making a payment because your Fast Pass will reflect these numbers exactly as you input them.
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Industry Standard in System Reliability
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Monday | February 14, 2022
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Since altering its maintenance practices a few years ago, United Power’s reliability has significantly improved, as have its outage numbers.
United Power Consistently, Significantly Better than National Average
United Power understands the most important thing its members want is consistently reliable power. Being able to deliver uninterrupted power is prominently weighed in how the cooperative defines success each year. Since altering its maintenance practices a few years ago, United Power’s reliability has significantly improved, as have its outage numbers. Already an industry leader in automated field devices and other innovative projects, the cooperative is also trending well below the national average in utility outage times, setting yet another standard for others to emulate.
The national average for outage duration among electric utilities in the United States has consistently hovered around 120 minutes per meter. This means the average electric consumer can expect to experience approximately two hours of outage time at their home over the course of a year. When United Power’s operations team instituted a new data-driven maintenance plan in 2017, its average outage times resembled the national averages. In the four years following the plan’s launch, the cooperative’s outage times per meter have dropped below 70 minutes.
The new maintenance practice focuses on analyzing data collected across thousands of miles of line to isolate the worst performing segments. With these segments identified, targeted maintenance projects can be scheduled to improve their performance.
“When you target maintenance efforts at the worst performing parts of the system it improves reliability for members served off of it,” said Bryant Robbins, United Power’s Chief Operating Officer. “Maintenance is an ongoing process, but as long as we continue analyzing the data, isolating problem sections and targeting our maintenance efforts to improve them, it improves the whole system’s reliability and resilience.”
Devices on the system, such as enhanced technology in substations and advanced metering equipment, collect data and transfer it back to system operators. In the event of an outage, these devices can capture important information, such as time, location and sequence-of-events. Armed with this, lineworkers in the field can use the information to restore power to members more quickly, which also contributes to decreased outage times. Without this information, not only would identifying problematic areas be difficult, or even impossible, it would also create additional delays in power restoration as lineworkers inspect miles of line to find the cause.
Some system improvements have served dual functions. United Power recently published its comprehensive fire mitigation plan, which includes new standards and program initiatives primarily focused on areas of the territory that are particularly at risk of wildfires, such as Coal Creek and Golden Gate Canyons. In December, storms blew through the territory with wind speeds in excess of 115 mph, including the storm that ultimately fueled the Marshall Fire. The cooperative activated its fire mitigation protocols during these windstorms, and due to proactive upgrades only experienced a few small outages.
“Our maintenance and system improvement efforts are already paying off for our members,” said Robbins. “Implementing this new maintenance plan has been effective and is proving its value. It’s hard to estimate how many outages you’ve prevented when you don’t have them, but our proactive efforts have gone a long way in helping prevent and/or quickly resolving outages.”
Regardless of the size or length of outage, United Power is continually investigating what causes them and how it can implement new practices to decrease their impact to members and duration. From system redundancies allowing the cooperative to restore power from a secondary location while repairs are being made to deploying an industry-leading number of automated devices, improving system reliability is one of United Power’s core goals.
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Is Your Contact Info Up to Date?
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Thursday | January 16, 2020
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Check your information to make sure you're getting important updates from your co-op.
United Power has been using recorded phone messages to let members know when a preplanned outage has been scheduled in their area for maintenance work. As new software becomes available, the cooperative may have more options to send important communications to members electronically.
Electronic communications are tied to individual member accounts and use the phone numbers and/or email addresses the cooperative has on record. If the contact information on record isn’t up-to-date or is entered incorrectly, you may be missing out on important notifications from United Power.
You can check your contact information and make necessary updates using the free online payment portal, SmartHub. To set up an online account, go to www.unitedpower.com and click on Online Account Services under My Account. Contact information can also be updated by calling the Member Services Team at 303-637-1300.
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It Pays to Be a Member – Capital Credit Refunds Issued to Members in August
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Monday | July 17, 2017
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The United Power board approved a retirement this year of $5 million dollars, and that means that every member will get to share in the cooperative’s continuing good financial health.
2017 Capital Credit Retirement to Distribute $5 Million
The United Power board approved a retirement this year of $5 million dollars, and that means that every member will get to share in the cooperative’s continuing good financial health. As the 11th consecutive year United Power has retired capital credits to its members, this $5 million dollar amount continues the commitment to sharing the performance of the cooperative with its members.
United Power, as a cooperative, is a not-for-profit operation. This means the co-op doesn’t work to earn margins for shareholders, but works for the members. Every year the United Power Board of Directors assesses the cooperative’s financial condition, and determines if and how much the cooperative can afford to return to the members.
Capital credits are based on two factors: how much electricity members use, and how long members have been a cooperative member. Essentially, the more power a member uses and the longer the member is part of the cooperative, the larger the share of each capital retirement. Each capital credit account represents a member’s investment into the cooperative, and those investment dollars are used over time to make capital improvements to the electric system.
“Capital credits illustrate one of the ways that cooperatives are very different from other utilities,” said John Parker, Interim CEO. “Our goal is to provide reliable electricity at economical rates, and with our members providing the support for our growing system we can meet the need for new service and keep rates economical. Every time a member receives a capital credit retirement from the cooperative, they receive a tangible benefit from their membership.”
Anyone who had service in 2016 or earlier will receive either a check or a bill credit as part of this year’s capital credit retirement. Any member who has a retirement of $10 or more will receive a check and anyone under that amount will receive a credit on their bill in August or September.
“We will be issuing more than 79,000 checks to our members this year, and many of those checks will be substantial,” Parker said. “Consider some of our largest users like local businesses, school districts, municipalities and farms and you can understand the impact United Power’s cooperative model has on the communities we serve. Large checks to a school district or for town facilities can really help with operational costs.”
Capital credit retirements have returned a steady stream of money back to members in recent years. In the past 11 years, United Power has retired $41 million in capital credits to our members.
To learn more about Capital Credits visit our Capital Credits page, or call a Member Services Representative at 303-637-1300.
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January Message from Mark A. Gabriel
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Monday | January 6, 2025
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A message to United Power members from the cooperative's President & Chief Executive Officer.
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.
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January Message from Mark A. Gabriel
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Tuesday | January 2, 2024
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A message to United Power members from the cooperative's President & Chief Executive Officer.
Along with the honor of operating an electric cooperative on behalf of you, our members, comes the accountability of being prepared for the changing future in energy. Two recent, recurrent themes have emerged that emphasize the need for United Power to work diligently to make Our Cooperative Roadmap a reality.
The first is the need to continue investing in the grid, and the second is an ongoing concern that the need for capacity — the backbone of reliable power — is getting perilously close to a crisis. Both issues tend to focus on the problem. United Power is actively seeking solutions.
There has been a lot of talk recently about investing significant financial resources in the grid. The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law include funding to target large-scale projects over the next decade. These investments are needed and welcomed, but the completion estimates are measured in years or even decades. Meeting the needs of a growing enterprise like United Power is at least four to five years away, even with aggressive siting and execution.
People tend to think of the grid as the large power lines that deliver electricity from power plants miles away. Much of the energy transition challenge is that a lot of low or non-carbon generation is located far from population centers. Coupled with permitting challenges, supply chain constraints, and a confusing financing model, large-scale projects just take time.
But the grid also includes distribution systems, operated by utilities like United Power. It is the main conduit to our members and requires as much — or more — investment as its larger cousins. Your Board of Directors has continuously supported budgets to upgrade and expand critical infrastructure, and these investments have paid off. United Power has one of the best distribution networks in the country, evidenced by high reliability numbers, rapid outage response, and data-driven system management.
A robust distribution grid is also critical to the second issue — the potential for seasonal power shortages.
The North American Reliability Corporation (NERC), responsible for assessing and enforcing reliability standards, recently found the country is at an elevated risk of having insufficient energy supplies to meet demand in extreme conditions. The reasons for this potential shortfall range from coal and nuclear plant closures and an expanded reliance on natural gas to the increased electrification of everything.
“Extreme cold weather events can cause electricity demand to deviate significantly from historical forecasts. Electricity demand in winter is closely tied to outside temperature. As electric heat pumps and heating systems become more prevalent, their combined effect on system demand is even more pronounced,” NERC stated.
The industry has tried to slow the energy transition and continue operating money-losing coal plants instead of proposing solutions. And, importantly, there are solutions. This is where United Power’s strategy of hyper-localizing generation and storage comes into play.
As we prepare for our upcoming power supply transition, United Power is adding significant amounts of battery storage, spread across our system. We are locating natural gas peaking units tied in to the distribution — versus transmission — networks and contracting with power supplies closer to the communities we serve. This reduces line losses, improves reliability, and keeps tax dollars local. We will couple this with efficiency programs, support any members who want to generate part of their own power through solar, and expand demand response options now that we will have a realistic peak window.
Of course, we will continue to get power from generation plants and support efforts to build out the transmission grid as it will continue to have a role in a modern electric enterprise. But, we will focus on what we can do locally.
As always, please feel free to reach out with your questions, comments, or concerns. United Power welcomes the opportunity to meet with your community groups and discuss the cooperative’s response to the changing industry.
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January Message from Mark A. Gabriel
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Saturday | January 1, 2022
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A message to United Power members from the cooperative's President & Chief Executive Officer.
Date: 4/29/2022
United Power filed a non-conditional Notice of Intent to Withdraw from our power supplier in compliance with a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruling. This changes our previously announced Tri-State exit date of Jan. 1, 2024 to May 1, 2024.
At United Power we continue with our sole focus of bringing power to our members at the greatest value.
During the past several years we have attempted to work with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, our power supplier, toward this end. Unfortunately, our G&T has been unwilling to make any changes in the pursuit of this goal, saddling United Power with some of the highest cost, carbon intensive power in the State of Colorado.
We have been unsuccessful in negotiating a revised contract with our G&T that would have allowed us to lower costs, expand member options, bring lower carbon generation and provide for a new future. Therefore, as of December 14, 2021 we have formally filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) our intent to withdraw from Tri-State effective January 1, 2024. The Board of Directors is strongly in the support of this action.
During my nine months as your President and Chief Executive Officer, I have presented our power supplier with numerous offers of settlement that would have continued our membership relationship while also allowing us to procure lower cost, cleaner power options. Despite many meetings and requests, the G&T has been mute on our offers and instead reacted through the legal system. I have agreed on at least two occasions to mediation with no response.
Instead of working with us in the pursuit of lower-cost, cleaner options, Tri-State has resisted these developments. Tri-State recently purchased additional coal generation, is limiting our members’ ability to add more carbon free generation and is penalizing additional storage on our system. Tri- State also offers non-members preferable transmission rates over those of us who have invested in their system for decades.
United Power has been a leader in the deployment of innovative new technologies and in the integration of renewable energy resources. Currently United Power has 84 megawatts of renewable generation on its system including 46 megawatts of utility scale solar, Colorado’s largest battery storage project, and more than 6,800 rooftop systems. Tri-State’s policies include penalties if a utility exceeds 5% of generation other than from the G&T.
United Power represents nearly 20% of the G&T’s annual revenue and is more than twice the size of the next largest cooperative. United Power joins Delta Montrose Electric Association and Kit Carson who have exited the G&T in the last five years. At least six other cooperatives are currently considering a potential exit.
United Power will be seeking alternative power supply and the use of transmission as outlined by FERC as part of Open Access Transmission Tariffs. Prior to January 1, 2024, United Power will work with other power suppliers and prepare for the transition from our G&T.
We do not take this decision lightly. Please feel free to reach out to me and other members of the United Power staff with any questions.
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Hodge, Whitmore Honored
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Friday | November 3, 2017
Card Teaser
Mary Hodge, Adams County Commissioner, and Troy Whitmore, United Power Public Affairs Officer received the distinguished Alumni of the Plains award from Pro 15 at their annual Fall Conference held in October.
Mary Hodge, Adams County Commissioner, and Troy Whitmore, United Power Public Affairs Officer received the distinguished Alumni of the Plains award from Pro 15 at their annual Fall Conference held in October. Commissioner Hodge was also inducted into the Pro 15 Legislative Hall of Fame.
Hodge, a United Power member, graduated from high school in Idalia, Colo., and prior to serving as an Adams County Commissioner, she served in the Colorado State Legislature in both the House and Senate. Whitmore graduated from high school in Haxtun, Colo. and has been with United Power for 31 years. He has served the community on the Thornton City Council, Brighton Economic Development Council, MetroNorth Chamber of Commerce Board and Government Affairs Committee, Northeastern Junior College Alumni Association and the Colorado 4-H and Colorado FFA Foundations.
The Alumni of the Plains award was established eleven years ago to recognize individuals who graduated from a high school in one of the 15 counties in Northeast Colorado, and who have excelled in their profession. Progressive 15 (Pro 15) is the collective voice of 15 counties in Northeast Colorado—advocating for legislation and policy that impact the economic vitality of the region.
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Home Appliances: 6 Ways to Save
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Friday | February 25, 2022
Card Teaser
Take some easy steps to save on the operation of your appliances, or boost your savings with a new appliance rebate from your co-op.
Our appliances make life easier and help tackle the manual tasks of housework, but there’s a cost to this convenience. Many newer models are designed to be energy efficient, but why not take measures that will help you save even more energy and money?
Run a full load. Wash clothes and dishes with a full load only; partial loads waste energy and water. Load your dishwasher according to the manufacturer's instructions. Fill the racks completely to maximize water and energy use but allow for adequate water circulation to ensure clean dishes.
Stay cool and fresh. Set refrigerator and freezer thermostats at the recommended temperature settings: 37°F to 40°F for the refrigerator, and 5°F for the freezer. It will help optimize energy savings while keeping foods fresh.
Stock the fridge. A fully stocked unit uses less energy because there is less air to cool. Avoid overfilling; too many items packed together closely will reduce air circulation.
Keep your dryer dry. Clean the lint filter after each dryer load; this will increase air circulation and improve dryer efficiency. Inspect your dryer vent periodically to ensure that it's not blocked.
Air your clean laundry. When doing laundry, why not air-dry your clothes? It will reduce energy costs, and it may help to keep clothes looking new.
Get cooking efficiently. Use your microwave or toaster oven rather than the stovetop or oven. These smaller appliances often heat food more quickly, while using less energy. If you do use the stovetop, match the pan size to the burner size, and cover pots and pans.
Boost your Savings with an Energy Smart Rebate
Looking to upgrade to more efficient appliances? Replace older appliances with new ENERGY STAR®-certified efficient models. These products are the best of the best, delivering cutting-edge energy efficiency along with the latest in technological innovation.
United Power members can boost their savings with rebates on a variety of ENERGY STAR® and select efficient electric appliances. View the complete menu of Energy Smart Rebates to reduce the cost your new appliance purchase.
Title
How to Modernize the Electric Grid: Rethinking Our Vision
/sites/default/files/styles/news_card_553x430_/public/news/CEO_Message.jpg?h=45932144&itok=pNegmSzP
Monday | August 2, 2021
Card Teaser
Modernization of the electric grid should not be the singular focus of spending in the United States, rather we should also be targeting our efforts and dollars at specific projects that will make the most immediate impacts.
Modernization of the electric grid should not be the singular focus of spending in the United States, rather we should also be targeting our efforts and dollars at specific projects that will make the most immediate impacts. Billions are spent every year on upgrading the system and adding intelligence to the grid and are always balanced against the impacts on rates and customers. Even with unlimited checkbooks on transmission – California and Texas are great examples – system issues can occur.
As a country, we should dream big but equally critical are to make improvements that can have an immediate impact on improving the nation’s infrastructure. The vision of seven hundred and sixty-five megawatt lines crisscrossing the U.S. is a “BHAG” – big, hairy audacious goal – that should be pursued.
However, with even the simplest transmission project taking a decade or more, we should take some specific, short- and medium-term actions.
It is also important to realize while permitting is slow, money is currently available to invest in transmission. The hang up is in assuring the line will be used and commitments made to guarantee the offtake of power. In other words, if no demand backed by financial arrangements, no construction. So, what projects do I believe can and should be done today?
Rebuild the seven AC/DC ties between the Eastern and Western grid. At a cost of roughly thirty million, this project could be complete in less than eighteen months.
Expand the Mead Substation at Hoover Dam into a renewable energy hub. This project will take between twenty-four to thirty-six months to complete. It is at the base of the El Dorado Valley, connects to California, and is the ideal spot for a robust hub.
Complete the Intertie Project started in 1964. In forty-eight months or less, the two hundred and seventy-five miles of transmission could be built that would loop the Pacific Northwest across the west and into the Southwest Power Pool.
Widen our focus and fund technology that benefits the nation and not just a single region. Concentrate those efforts on grid cybersecurity, as well as advanced system sensing to anticipate and avoid issues.
Another key area is to create a cohesive national effort to enhance wildfire tools and technology, including the expansion of right-of-way tree clearing. Encourage or standardize the use of coated cables, especially in areas when undergrounding is limited by terrain or cost.
Create an incentive structure that supports our end goals for improvements in the grid. Pay higher incentives for the power solutions that are really needed: pay a higher rate of return for lines that serve grids wider than a single state, quit paying for redundant infrastructure, and guarantee offtake as a fundamental component of the incentive structure.
Create real markets that span time zones and weather conditions and empower those entities to support. This should also include an RTO to coordinate offshore wind and provide the trading and management platform.
Finally, recognize that transmission is best suited to fix the growing energy divide. The digital divide is often spoken of in our country when the energy divide is an even greater one to navigate for underserved or unserved communities. The “haves” can afford solar panels and storage, while the “have nots” are paying the price. The haves can create microgrids – which serve a purpose – but also serve to create a balkanized electrical system.
Our current business models hang on an engineering measurement – the kilowatt/megawatt hour paradigm. This paradigm is no longer valid when the haves can move their energy supply off the grid for a portion of the day while the have nots pay the carrying costs. We need to move beyond a simple engineering focus on our grid and the delivery of power and understand the far-reaching effects being created with our inherently uneven system.
The question to be asking is how can we effectively grow our grid to realize all the intrinsic potential, and bring all our citizens along to enjoy those benefits? Let us dream for the future and act for today.
This article recently appeared in August 2021 Public Utilities Fortnightly. Read the original article here.
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How to Use New Payment Kiosks
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Tuesday | December 10, 2019
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United Power has placed payment kiosks at two office locations this year.
United Power has payment kiosks at our Brighton, Coal Creek and Carbon Valley office locations. These easy-to-use and hassle-free kiosks accept cash, credit card or check payments. Cash and credit card payments made using a kiosk are applied to your account immediately, and accounts subject to disconnection are restored immediately upon payment.
To make a payment at one of these kiosks, bring your United Power account number and a form of payment.
Set Up Your Fast Pass for Quick Access
To make your transactions faster, there is an option to set up a “Fast Pass,” which will be prompted once you complete a successful transaction. You’ll create a 4-digit PIN and receive a printed barcode.
The next time you visit a United Power payment kiosk, select “Fast Pass” and quickly find your account with the barcode/PIN or the phone number you used when setting up your Fast Pass.
Please be careful to enter the correct phone and account numbers when making a payment because your Fast Pass will reflect these numbers exactly as you input them.
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Industry Standard in System Reliability
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Monday | February 14, 2022
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Since altering its maintenance practices a few years ago, United Power’s reliability has significantly improved, as have its outage numbers.
United Power Consistently, Significantly Better than National Average
United Power understands the most important thing its members want is consistently reliable power. Being able to deliver uninterrupted power is prominently weighed in how the cooperative defines success each year. Since altering its maintenance practices a few years ago, United Power’s reliability has significantly improved, as have its outage numbers. Already an industry leader in automated field devices and other innovative projects, the cooperative is also trending well below the national average in utility outage times, setting yet another standard for others to emulate.
The national average for outage duration among electric utilities in the United States has consistently hovered around 120 minutes per meter. This means the average electric consumer can expect to experience approximately two hours of outage time at their home over the course of a year. When United Power’s operations team instituted a new data-driven maintenance plan in 2017, its average outage times resembled the national averages. In the four years following the plan’s launch, the cooperative’s outage times per meter have dropped below 70 minutes.
The new maintenance practice focuses on analyzing data collected across thousands of miles of line to isolate the worst performing segments. With these segments identified, targeted maintenance projects can be scheduled to improve their performance.
“When you target maintenance efforts at the worst performing parts of the system it improves reliability for members served off of it,” said Bryant Robbins, United Power’s Chief Operating Officer. “Maintenance is an ongoing process, but as long as we continue analyzing the data, isolating problem sections and targeting our maintenance efforts to improve them, it improves the whole system’s reliability and resilience.”
Devices on the system, such as enhanced technology in substations and advanced metering equipment, collect data and transfer it back to system operators. In the event of an outage, these devices can capture important information, such as time, location and sequence-of-events. Armed with this, lineworkers in the field can use the information to restore power to members more quickly, which also contributes to decreased outage times. Without this information, not only would identifying problematic areas be difficult, or even impossible, it would also create additional delays in power restoration as lineworkers inspect miles of line to find the cause.
Some system improvements have served dual functions. United Power recently published its comprehensive fire mitigation plan, which includes new standards and program initiatives primarily focused on areas of the territory that are particularly at risk of wildfires, such as Coal Creek and Golden Gate Canyons. In December, storms blew through the territory with wind speeds in excess of 115 mph, including the storm that ultimately fueled the Marshall Fire. The cooperative activated its fire mitigation protocols during these windstorms, and due to proactive upgrades only experienced a few small outages.
“Our maintenance and system improvement efforts are already paying off for our members,” said Robbins. “Implementing this new maintenance plan has been effective and is proving its value. It’s hard to estimate how many outages you’ve prevented when you don’t have them, but our proactive efforts have gone a long way in helping prevent and/or quickly resolving outages.”
Regardless of the size or length of outage, United Power is continually investigating what causes them and how it can implement new practices to decrease their impact to members and duration. From system redundancies allowing the cooperative to restore power from a secondary location while repairs are being made to deploying an industry-leading number of automated devices, improving system reliability is one of United Power’s core goals.
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Is Your Contact Info Up to Date?
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Thursday | January 16, 2020
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Check your information to make sure you're getting important updates from your co-op.
United Power has been using recorded phone messages to let members know when a preplanned outage has been scheduled in their area for maintenance work. As new software becomes available, the cooperative may have more options to send important communications to members electronically.
Electronic communications are tied to individual member accounts and use the phone numbers and/or email addresses the cooperative has on record. If the contact information on record isn’t up-to-date or is entered incorrectly, you may be missing out on important notifications from United Power.
You can check your contact information and make necessary updates using the free online payment portal, SmartHub. To set up an online account, go to www.unitedpower.com and click on Online Account Services under My Account. Contact information can also be updated by calling the Member Services Team at 303-637-1300.
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It Pays to Be a Member – Capital Credit Refunds Issued to Members in August
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Monday | July 17, 2017
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The United Power board approved a retirement this year of $5 million dollars, and that means that every member will get to share in the cooperative’s continuing good financial health.
2017 Capital Credit Retirement to Distribute $5 Million
The United Power board approved a retirement this year of $5 million dollars, and that means that every member will get to share in the cooperative’s continuing good financial health. As the 11th consecutive year United Power has retired capital credits to its members, this $5 million dollar amount continues the commitment to sharing the performance of the cooperative with its members.
United Power, as a cooperative, is a not-for-profit operation. This means the co-op doesn’t work to earn margins for shareholders, but works for the members. Every year the United Power Board of Directors assesses the cooperative’s financial condition, and determines if and how much the cooperative can afford to return to the members.
Capital credits are based on two factors: how much electricity members use, and how long members have been a cooperative member. Essentially, the more power a member uses and the longer the member is part of the cooperative, the larger the share of each capital retirement. Each capital credit account represents a member’s investment into the cooperative, and those investment dollars are used over time to make capital improvements to the electric system.
“Capital credits illustrate one of the ways that cooperatives are very different from other utilities,” said John Parker, Interim CEO. “Our goal is to provide reliable electricity at economical rates, and with our members providing the support for our growing system we can meet the need for new service and keep rates economical. Every time a member receives a capital credit retirement from the cooperative, they receive a tangible benefit from their membership.”
Anyone who had service in 2016 or earlier will receive either a check or a bill credit as part of this year’s capital credit retirement. Any member who has a retirement of $10 or more will receive a check and anyone under that amount will receive a credit on their bill in August or September.
“We will be issuing more than 79,000 checks to our members this year, and many of those checks will be substantial,” Parker said. “Consider some of our largest users like local businesses, school districts, municipalities and farms and you can understand the impact United Power’s cooperative model has on the communities we serve. Large checks to a school district or for town facilities can really help with operational costs.”
Capital credit retirements have returned a steady stream of money back to members in recent years. In the past 11 years, United Power has retired $41 million in capital credits to our members.
To learn more about Capital Credits visit our Capital Credits page, or call a Member Services Representative at 303-637-1300.
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January Message from Mark A. Gabriel
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Monday | January 6, 2025
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A message to United Power members from the cooperative's President & Chief Executive Officer.
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.
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January Message from Mark A. Gabriel
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Tuesday | January 2, 2024
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A message to United Power members from the cooperative's President & Chief Executive Officer.
Along with the honor of operating an electric cooperative on behalf of you, our members, comes the accountability of being prepared for the changing future in energy. Two recent, recurrent themes have emerged that emphasize the need for United Power to work diligently to make Our Cooperative Roadmap a reality.
The first is the need to continue investing in the grid, and the second is an ongoing concern that the need for capacity — the backbone of reliable power — is getting perilously close to a crisis. Both issues tend to focus on the problem. United Power is actively seeking solutions.
There has been a lot of talk recently about investing significant financial resources in the grid. The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law include funding to target large-scale projects over the next decade. These investments are needed and welcomed, but the completion estimates are measured in years or even decades. Meeting the needs of a growing enterprise like United Power is at least four to five years away, even with aggressive siting and execution.
People tend to think of the grid as the large power lines that deliver electricity from power plants miles away. Much of the energy transition challenge is that a lot of low or non-carbon generation is located far from population centers. Coupled with permitting challenges, supply chain constraints, and a confusing financing model, large-scale projects just take time.
But the grid also includes distribution systems, operated by utilities like United Power. It is the main conduit to our members and requires as much — or more — investment as its larger cousins. Your Board of Directors has continuously supported budgets to upgrade and expand critical infrastructure, and these investments have paid off. United Power has one of the best distribution networks in the country, evidenced by high reliability numbers, rapid outage response, and data-driven system management.
A robust distribution grid is also critical to the second issue — the potential for seasonal power shortages.
The North American Reliability Corporation (NERC), responsible for assessing and enforcing reliability standards, recently found the country is at an elevated risk of having insufficient energy supplies to meet demand in extreme conditions. The reasons for this potential shortfall range from coal and nuclear plant closures and an expanded reliance on natural gas to the increased electrification of everything.
“Extreme cold weather events can cause electricity demand to deviate significantly from historical forecasts. Electricity demand in winter is closely tied to outside temperature. As electric heat pumps and heating systems become more prevalent, their combined effect on system demand is even more pronounced,” NERC stated.
The industry has tried to slow the energy transition and continue operating money-losing coal plants instead of proposing solutions. And, importantly, there are solutions. This is where United Power’s strategy of hyper-localizing generation and storage comes into play.
As we prepare for our upcoming power supply transition, United Power is adding significant amounts of battery storage, spread across our system. We are locating natural gas peaking units tied in to the distribution — versus transmission — networks and contracting with power supplies closer to the communities we serve. This reduces line losses, improves reliability, and keeps tax dollars local. We will couple this with efficiency programs, support any members who want to generate part of their own power through solar, and expand demand response options now that we will have a realistic peak window.
Of course, we will continue to get power from generation plants and support efforts to build out the transmission grid as it will continue to have a role in a modern electric enterprise. But, we will focus on what we can do locally.
As always, please feel free to reach out with your questions, comments, or concerns. United Power welcomes the opportunity to meet with your community groups and discuss the cooperative’s response to the changing industry.
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January Message from Mark A. Gabriel
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Saturday | January 1, 2022
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A message to United Power members from the cooperative's President & Chief Executive Officer.
Date: 4/29/2022
United Power filed a non-conditional Notice of Intent to Withdraw from our power supplier in compliance with a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruling. This changes our previously announced Tri-State exit date of Jan. 1, 2024 to May 1, 2024.
At United Power we continue with our sole focus of bringing power to our members at the greatest value.
During the past several years we have attempted to work with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, our power supplier, toward this end. Unfortunately, our G&T has been unwilling to make any changes in the pursuit of this goal, saddling United Power with some of the highest cost, carbon intensive power in the State of Colorado.
We have been unsuccessful in negotiating a revised contract with our G&T that would have allowed us to lower costs, expand member options, bring lower carbon generation and provide for a new future. Therefore, as of December 14, 2021 we have formally filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) our intent to withdraw from Tri-State effective January 1, 2024. The Board of Directors is strongly in the support of this action.
During my nine months as your President and Chief Executive Officer, I have presented our power supplier with numerous offers of settlement that would have continued our membership relationship while also allowing us to procure lower cost, cleaner power options. Despite many meetings and requests, the G&T has been mute on our offers and instead reacted through the legal system. I have agreed on at least two occasions to mediation with no response.
Instead of working with us in the pursuit of lower-cost, cleaner options, Tri-State has resisted these developments. Tri-State recently purchased additional coal generation, is limiting our members’ ability to add more carbon free generation and is penalizing additional storage on our system. Tri- State also offers non-members preferable transmission rates over those of us who have invested in their system for decades.
United Power has been a leader in the deployment of innovative new technologies and in the integration of renewable energy resources. Currently United Power has 84 megawatts of renewable generation on its system including 46 megawatts of utility scale solar, Colorado’s largest battery storage project, and more than 6,800 rooftop systems. Tri-State’s policies include penalties if a utility exceeds 5% of generation other than from the G&T.
United Power represents nearly 20% of the G&T’s annual revenue and is more than twice the size of the next largest cooperative. United Power joins Delta Montrose Electric Association and Kit Carson who have exited the G&T in the last five years. At least six other cooperatives are currently considering a potential exit.
United Power will be seeking alternative power supply and the use of transmission as outlined by FERC as part of Open Access Transmission Tariffs. Prior to January 1, 2024, United Power will work with other power suppliers and prepare for the transition from our G&T.
We do not take this decision lightly. Please feel free to reach out to me and other members of the United Power staff with any questions.
