Mark Gabriel, United Power CEO, poses for a portrait with the company’s 1938 pickup truck at the headquarters in Brighton, Colorado on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021.over the power supplier’s rates, what critics considered an over-reliance on coal and restrictions on how much power members like United Power could generate on their own.
As a wholesale power supplier, Tri-State, based in Westminster, provides electricity to a total of 41 cooperatives in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nebraska. The not-for-profit business was started by rural electric associations, including United Power, in 1952. Tri-State has been working with its member cooperatives on a contract change that would allow them to get more of their electricity from other sources, spokesman Lee Boughey said. He said United Power objected to an earlier proposal that would have boosted the 5% provision to 50%.
At the same time, Tri-State’s rates have been stable or decreased, remaining competitive with other utilities, Boughey added. The two-year waiting period that FERC requires from cooperatives ending their contracts early has given Tri-State time to adjust and make sure remaining members don’t end up paying more as a result, he said.
Gabriel said the growth is across all sectors: residential, commercial and industrial. The cooperative’s service area includes several quickly expanding communities, oil and gas sites and renewable energy companies.