Title
Lineman Going Back to Guatemala
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Tuesday | July 23, 2019
Card Teaser
Kelly Snow has been selected to return later this summer as part of a crew of to provide power to the village of Sillab.
For the second time in as many years, United Power lineman Kelly Snow will represent the cooperative in Guatemala. Snow has been selected to return later this summer as part of a crew of 20 linemen from Colorado and Oklahoma to provide power to yet another isolated jungle village.
This past summer, Snow spent three weeks near Playa Grande setting poles, stringing line and hanging transformers to provide power to residents in two remote jungle villages for the first time.
“It’s really an honor to be invited back,” Snow said. “Most of us have never had to go more than a day without electricity and the benefits it provides. These villages have never had that experience.”
Sillab, the village they’ll be energizing in October, is located in the mountainous jungles of north central Guatemala. Sillab is home to approximately 60 households, one elementary school and four churches, none of which have known the benefits of reliable and affordable electricity.
While much of the work will be the same, the terrain presents a new difficulty for Snow and his fellow linemen. Crews will have to overcome harsh conditions in order to string electric line more than six miles to Sillab, including dense jungle foliage, mountainous terrain, frequent rain and high humidity.
Harsh conditions and grueling manual labor contributed to fatigue and dehydration in the relatively flatter areas of Playa Grande.
“You don’t quickly forget the experience of working in the rain and humidity,” Snow said. “But steep inclines add another level of safety we’ll have to prepare for and pay careful attention to during the project.”
In Playa Grande, long days seemed longer without access to major equipment, a condition that will also worsen in Sillab.
With a few spare linemen and some light equipment, the utility near Playa Grande was able to provide a little help. The utility and power supplier near Sillab have only one lineman each and no equipment.
“It will be tough, physical labor,” Snow said, “but I’m proud to be a part of it. At the end of the day, if you can be proud of what you did, the pain and the challenge is worth it.”
For more than 80 years, electric cooperatives have been helping small, rural communities across the country thrive. It’s one of the seven cooperative principles: concern for community. With the help of NRECA International, cooperatives have been able to take that mission global, providing millions of small communities with the gift of electricity.
“This is why we were founded – bringing power to rural America,” Snow said. “The impact electricity makes on one of these villages is tangible and opens up doors to future possibilities.”
Title
Linemen Provide Opportunity to Guatemalan Villages
/sites/default/files/styles/news_card_553x430_/public/news/Dec2018_NL_Guatemala.png?itok=JuLGbFMN
Monday | December 3, 2018
Card Teaser
In October, lights went on for the first time in two villages nestled deep in the jungles of northwest Guatemala.
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.”
Title
Local Food Banks Receive Member Choice Grants
/sites/default/files/styles/news_card_553x430_/public/news/MemberChoice.jpg?itok=xQRicKHr
Monday | May 11, 2020
Card Teaser
Nominations quickly began arriving, and it was clear members saw an immediate need to provide basic food supplies for their neighbors at this time.
United Power introduced its new Member Choice Grants program earlier this year, asking members to nominate a nonprofit organization in its service territory they would like to see the cooperative help support.
Within the service territory, several of these organizations exist to provide for the needs of individuals and families and bring value to the communities they serve. These grant nominations allow United Power to provide support for causes and organizations members truly care about.
Nominations quickly began arriving, and it was clear members saw an immediate need to provide basic food supplies for their neighbors at this time. United Power is happy to announce the two organizations receiving the first $1,000 Member Choice Grants from the first round of nominations for 2020.
Carbon Valley Help Center
The Carbon Valley Help Center exists to help with the immediate needs of residents in their area, including food assistance and financial support. The grant will be used to help provide for the needs of its food pantry during the pandemic.
Fort Lupton Food & Clothing Bank
The mission of the Fort Lupton Food and Clothing Bank is to provide life sustaining food and clothing to people in need in and around the Fort Lupton community. Each year, the organization provides assistance to nearly 9,000 individuals.
Nominations are now open for the second round of Member Choice Grants, which will be announced in the next United Newsline. To submit a nomination, fill out a Member Choice Grant application and provide a brief reason why you feel the organization should receive the grant.
Title
March Message from Mark A. Gabriel
/sites/default/files/styles/news_card_553x430_/public/news/CEO_Message.jpg?h=45932144&itok=pNegmSzP
Thursday | February 29, 2024
Card Teaser
A message to United Power members from the cooperative's President & Chief Executive Officer.
I have spent much of my 30+ year career in the utility industry. Through the years, people have often asked me what the “best” business model is to provide electricity. There are basically three choices: investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and cooperatives like United Power.
I try to reflect on the various pluses and minuses of each business model when answering the question, but always come back to the same conclusion — cooperatives are the closest to their member-owners, focus clearly on the communities being served, and can make changes quickly as technology transforms the energy enterprise.
Commitment to our member-owners is deeply embedded in the cooperative mindset. Our employees work diligently each day to meet the needs of United Power members, while also anticipating future needs. This is why we have been able to handle the tremendous growth in our service territory across all the sectors we are proud to serve: residential, small commercial, and large commercial/industrial. Our attitude and culture is to meet needs when and where they arise, based on the members’ time frame.
Members have an active voice in the utility’s future direction through the annual Director Election. The dedicated women and men on United Power’s Board of Directors spend many hours alongside management preparing for what is to come. This is particularly important with the rapidly changing environment we find ourselves in today.
The Board had the foresight to pilot the largest battery storage facility in the West in 2018. It provided understanding and experience in operating battery storage systems, and paved the way for the cooperative to add another 115 megawatts of battery storage to our system this spring and summer. This battery deployment ensures reliability and allows us to manage the system locally. We will be one of the first utilities in the nation to energize utility-scale batteries at our substations. Moving quickly and taking advantage of innovative technologies is a hallmark of the cooperative world, and certainly at United Power.
Our theme for this year — United Power’s 85th anniversary — is Here for Good. This captures our belief in building a reliable and resilient distribution system and our enduring presence in the communities we serve. United Power fosters local relationships and partners on economic development to support community growth. The cooperative also partners with members who want to give back to those less fortunate through Operation Round Up. More than 25,000 of you participate in the program, which has distributed more than $3 million since 1995. This is why the cooperative business model is so strong — the proximity to the people we serve as “members” and not just “customers.”
As a member, you are also an owner with a vested economic interest in United Power. A part of every monthly statement is an investment in your utility — a key difference in the three business models. Every year, the Board of Directors evaluates our financial condition and determines if we can return margins to members. In the last five years alone, we have returned more than $25 million to members. This only happens in the cooperative world (unless you own stock in an investor-owned utility, of course).
Electric cooperatives are based on seven principles: open and voluntary membership; democratic member control; members economic participation; autonomy and independence; education, training, and information; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for community. We take these principle to heart in everything we do at United Power.
My third anniversary at the helm of United Power is March 15. I am thankful every day to live and work in a community powered by an electric cooperative, and to work with the amazing women and men of this utility.
As always, please feel free to reach out with your questions, comments, or concerns. I enjoy hearing from our members and appreciate your continued support.
Title
Lineman Going Back to Guatemala
/sites/default/files/styles/news_card_553x430_/public/news/JulyAug2019_NL_Guatemala.jpg?itok=oP6BY7ff
Tuesday | July 23, 2019
Card Teaser
Kelly Snow has been selected to return later this summer as part of a crew of to provide power to the village of Sillab.
For the second time in as many years, United Power lineman Kelly Snow will represent the cooperative in Guatemala. Snow has been selected to return later this summer as part of a crew of 20 linemen from Colorado and Oklahoma to provide power to yet another isolated jungle village.
This past summer, Snow spent three weeks near Playa Grande setting poles, stringing line and hanging transformers to provide power to residents in two remote jungle villages for the first time.
“It’s really an honor to be invited back,” Snow said. “Most of us have never had to go more than a day without electricity and the benefits it provides. These villages have never had that experience.”
Sillab, the village they’ll be energizing in October, is located in the mountainous jungles of north central Guatemala. Sillab is home to approximately 60 households, one elementary school and four churches, none of which have known the benefits of reliable and affordable electricity.
While much of the work will be the same, the terrain presents a new difficulty for Snow and his fellow linemen. Crews will have to overcome harsh conditions in order to string electric line more than six miles to Sillab, including dense jungle foliage, mountainous terrain, frequent rain and high humidity.
Harsh conditions and grueling manual labor contributed to fatigue and dehydration in the relatively flatter areas of Playa Grande.
“You don’t quickly forget the experience of working in the rain and humidity,” Snow said. “But steep inclines add another level of safety we’ll have to prepare for and pay careful attention to during the project.”
In Playa Grande, long days seemed longer without access to major equipment, a condition that will also worsen in Sillab.
With a few spare linemen and some light equipment, the utility near Playa Grande was able to provide a little help. The utility and power supplier near Sillab have only one lineman each and no equipment.
“It will be tough, physical labor,” Snow said, “but I’m proud to be a part of it. At the end of the day, if you can be proud of what you did, the pain and the challenge is worth it.”
For more than 80 years, electric cooperatives have been helping small, rural communities across the country thrive. It’s one of the seven cooperative principles: concern for community. With the help of NRECA International, cooperatives have been able to take that mission global, providing millions of small communities with the gift of electricity.
“This is why we were founded – bringing power to rural America,” Snow said. “The impact electricity makes on one of these villages is tangible and opens up doors to future possibilities.”
Title
Linemen Provide Opportunity to Guatemalan Villages
/sites/default/files/styles/news_card_553x430_/public/news/Dec2018_NL_Guatemala.png?itok=JuLGbFMN
Monday | December 3, 2018
Card Teaser
In October, lights went on for the first time in two villages nestled deep in the jungles of northwest Guatemala.
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.”
Title
Local Food Banks Receive Member Choice Grants
/sites/default/files/styles/news_card_553x430_/public/news/MemberChoice.jpg?itok=xQRicKHr
Monday | May 11, 2020
Card Teaser
Nominations quickly began arriving, and it was clear members saw an immediate need to provide basic food supplies for their neighbors at this time.
United Power introduced its new Member Choice Grants program earlier this year, asking members to nominate a nonprofit organization in its service territory they would like to see the cooperative help support.
Within the service territory, several of these organizations exist to provide for the needs of individuals and families and bring value to the communities they serve. These grant nominations allow United Power to provide support for causes and organizations members truly care about.
Nominations quickly began arriving, and it was clear members saw an immediate need to provide basic food supplies for their neighbors at this time. United Power is happy to announce the two organizations receiving the first $1,000 Member Choice Grants from the first round of nominations for 2020.
Carbon Valley Help Center
The Carbon Valley Help Center exists to help with the immediate needs of residents in their area, including food assistance and financial support. The grant will be used to help provide for the needs of its food pantry during the pandemic.
Fort Lupton Food & Clothing Bank
The mission of the Fort Lupton Food and Clothing Bank is to provide life sustaining food and clothing to people in need in and around the Fort Lupton community. Each year, the organization provides assistance to nearly 9,000 individuals.
Nominations are now open for the second round of Member Choice Grants, which will be announced in the next United Newsline. To submit a nomination, fill out a Member Choice Grant application and provide a brief reason why you feel the organization should receive the grant.
Title
March Message from Mark A. Gabriel
/sites/default/files/styles/news_card_553x430_/public/news/CEO_Message.jpg?h=45932144&itok=pNegmSzP
Thursday | February 29, 2024
Card Teaser
A message to United Power members from the cooperative's President & Chief Executive Officer.
I have spent much of my 30+ year career in the utility industry. Through the years, people have often asked me what the “best” business model is to provide electricity. There are basically three choices: investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and cooperatives like United Power.
I try to reflect on the various pluses and minuses of each business model when answering the question, but always come back to the same conclusion — cooperatives are the closest to their member-owners, focus clearly on the communities being served, and can make changes quickly as technology transforms the energy enterprise.
Commitment to our member-owners is deeply embedded in the cooperative mindset. Our employees work diligently each day to meet the needs of United Power members, while also anticipating future needs. This is why we have been able to handle the tremendous growth in our service territory across all the sectors we are proud to serve: residential, small commercial, and large commercial/industrial. Our attitude and culture is to meet needs when and where they arise, based on the members’ time frame.
Members have an active voice in the utility’s future direction through the annual Director Election. The dedicated women and men on United Power’s Board of Directors spend many hours alongside management preparing for what is to come. This is particularly important with the rapidly changing environment we find ourselves in today.
The Board had the foresight to pilot the largest battery storage facility in the West in 2018. It provided understanding and experience in operating battery storage systems, and paved the way for the cooperative to add another 115 megawatts of battery storage to our system this spring and summer. This battery deployment ensures reliability and allows us to manage the system locally. We will be one of the first utilities in the nation to energize utility-scale batteries at our substations. Moving quickly and taking advantage of innovative technologies is a hallmark of the cooperative world, and certainly at United Power.
Our theme for this year — United Power’s 85th anniversary — is Here for Good. This captures our belief in building a reliable and resilient distribution system and our enduring presence in the communities we serve. United Power fosters local relationships and partners on economic development to support community growth. The cooperative also partners with members who want to give back to those less fortunate through Operation Round Up. More than 25,000 of you participate in the program, which has distributed more than $3 million since 1995. This is why the cooperative business model is so strong — the proximity to the people we serve as “members” and not just “customers.”
As a member, you are also an owner with a vested economic interest in United Power. A part of every monthly statement is an investment in your utility — a key difference in the three business models. Every year, the Board of Directors evaluates our financial condition and determines if we can return margins to members. In the last five years alone, we have returned more than $25 million to members. This only happens in the cooperative world (unless you own stock in an investor-owned utility, of course).
Electric cooperatives are based on seven principles: open and voluntary membership; democratic member control; members economic participation; autonomy and independence; education, training, and information; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for community. We take these principle to heart in everything we do at United Power.
My third anniversary at the helm of United Power is March 15. I am thankful every day to live and work in a community powered by an electric cooperative, and to work with the amazing women and men of this utility.
As always, please feel free to reach out with your questions, comments, or concerns. I enjoy hearing from our members and appreciate your continued support.
