Approximately 16 outages this summer as result of precautions…

by Mark Reaman

The warm, dry and often windy summer has Gunnison County and the nearby region primed for potential wildfires. The slightest spark could set off a chain reaction resulting in a damaging wildfire. The local electric company is aware of the situation, and it has implemented a policy to do what it can to avoid setting off a dangerous spark. But that has also resulted in ramifications for some Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) members.

The GCEA has placed its system in a so-called “non-reclose mode” which disables automatic power restoration when something triggers a quick outage, like a small animal triggering a fault. Under normal circumstances, such a situation would be handled automatically, and power might be out a few seconds. Now, a protective device shuts off power, and it remains off until a GCEA crew can safely inspect the line and manually restore service.

In an email to GCEA members, it was explained that “many of the outages we’ve experienced recently have been caused by small animals contacting electrical equipment — events that would normally result in only a brief interruption or might go unnoticed altogether.”

With non-reclose mode in place, every outage requires a crew to respond, inspect the equipment and verify that it is safe to re-energize the line before power can be restored. While this means outages may last longer and affect more members than they normally would, it significantly reduces the risk of electrical equipment producing sparks that could ignite a wildfire during hot, dry conditions.”

GCEA chief executive officer Mike McBride said this week that the co-op has had a total of 48 outages from the start of June when GCEA set its automatic breakers to non-reclose mode. GCEA estimates that about one-third of those outages resulted from non-reclose settings. McBride explained that most outages affect only a portion of the system and often a very small portion. “Using non-reclose settings is a long-standing GCEA practice for wildfire mitigation,” he said. “We have used this for decades. This year, the settings went into place on June 13. We monitor fire weather forecasts in addition to county fire bans and red flag warnings. Fire weather forecasts are based on a number of factors including dry conditions, temperature, humidity and wind.”

McBride said GCEA’s formal non-reclose procedures are as follows:

• Under normal operating conditions, protective devices on the system automatically attempt to restore power after a temporary fault, such as a small animal coming into contact with electrical equipment. In many cases, power is restored within seconds without the need for a crew to respond.

• When the system is operating in non-reclose mode, those automatic restoration attempts are disabled. Instead, the protective device shuts off power and remains off until a GCEA crew can safely inspect the line and manually restore service.

“Outages can affect all locations on GCEA’s system,” McBride said. “With respect to non-reclose settings, Mt. Crested Butte is not on non-reclose, because that line is entirely underground. Outage duration depends on where the ‘opened’ protection device is and how many miles of line need to be patrolled before the line can be re-energized, but it is typically only a few hours.”

Non-reclose settings are commonly used by other utilities. Some utilities, notably Xcel Energy have instigated public safety power shutoffs when high winds and dry conditions have increased the risk of wildfire. McBride said GCEA has not ever initiated a public safety power shutoff.

“We have not had a wildfire issue at GCEA,” said McBride. “That is something we are working hard to prevent. The Elk Fire, north of Lake City, did cause us concern this year as it approached both Tri-State and GCEA lines. Both Tri-State and GCEA took steps to protect that infrastructure. Fortunately, that fire is not growing at this time and has not reached any power lines.”

The GCEA email said that protecting the communities served by the co-op “requires balancing reliability with public safety…GCEA will continue operating in non-reclose mode until wildfire conditions improve and it is safe to return the system to normal operation.”

Purchasing Renewable Energy Credits to offset town electricity costs

As the Oh Be Joyful solar project nears its groundbreaking this summer, the town of Mt. Crested Butte is investing in the project in its effort to support regional renewable energy initiatives in the valley.

In April, the Mt. Crested Butte town council approved a subscriber agreement with Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) for the Oh Be Joyful solar array. The 1.1 megawatt solar array project, which has been in the works for years, is located on land owned by the town of Crested Butte by the Baxter’s Gulch trailhead. The solar array will be owned and operated by GCEA with solar provider Outshine Energy as the general contractor. 

Mt. Crested Butte’s agreement will help offset the town’s municipal electricity consumption with locally produced solar energy created from the Oh Be Joyful solar array. The town agreed to allocate $4,000 per year in addition to its base electricity costs over the next 30 years to purchase Renewable Energy Credits (RECS). A REC is a credit that represents the environmental attribute of renewable energy generation, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) or megawatt-hours (MWh). One REC is equal to one MWh of renewable electricity produced, and each kWh produced offsets one kWh of electricity consumed from the grid through an individual electric meter. 

According to GCEA chief executive officer Mike McBride, GCEA is selling RECs to offset added costs of developing and operating the Oh Be Joyful facility. These RECs purchased by Mt. Crested Butte will cover 100% of the town’s municipal operations kWh usage, including all electricity used at the town hall, the two town maintenance buildings and the transit center. 

According to McBride, the Oh Be Joyful facility is expected to generate 2,327,549 kWh per year on average, and Mt. CB would account for 5% of the array’s total production. The town of Crested Butte has committed approximately $33,000 a year for the next 10 years. 

The project is slated for groundbreaking this summer. “We’re in good shape to have it built and done this year,” said McBride. 

Official vote on December 18

By Mark Reaman 

A one-hour meeting between Gunnison County Electric Association staff, board and members on Tuesday evening did not bring up major objections to the proposed average 4.5% rate increase that is under consideration by the board. While a few members said their business would feel a rate increase larger than 4.5%, others asked if GCEA could possibly give a break to seniors, especially those on fixed incomes.

The GCEA board will officially consider and take action on the rate increase at the regular board meeting that takes place Wednesday, December 18.  

The GCEA estimated that the average monthly residential member bill increase would be about $6 while the monthly service availability fee will increase $2 for most residential and commercial accounts. According to the GCEA, “the rate adjustment is needed to cover increasing operating costs and ensure continued delivery of safe and reliable electrical services to GCEA members.”

GCEA chief financial officer Mark VanderVeer started off the Tuesday meeting outlining how the GCEA works to keep costs down and rates affordable. Using slides, he showed that since 2014 inflation had gone up 32% while electric rates had increased just 24%. Most of that disparity was experienced in the last six years. He said for 2025 the GCEA has a budget of approximately $24.8 million “with a thin operating margin of $401,363 or 1.6%. Historically the operating margin has been at between three and four percent and we need to get back to that.”

While stating clearly that the GCEA doesn’t take rate increases lightly, VanderVeer said “the GCEA is also not immune to rising costs. At the end of the day a 4.5% rate increase is as low as we can go and have a reasonable operating margin at the end of the year.”

The GCEA board is absorbing some of the increase needed to meet the 2025 budget by using deferred revenue to mitigate member impacts. VanderVeer explained that the 4.5% increase was an average rate increase, and it would be allocated differently to different rate classes. 

He also said the expectation is that fewer kilowatt hour sales of electricity were expected in 2025 compared to some previous years. That, he said is not unusual and electricity usage varies year to year. Responding to a member question he said usage varies depending on a number of factors including things like weather, people’s usage patterns, and the number of visitors that come to the valley.

VanderVeer also went over a number of ways the co-op strives to save money. He said the Taylor River Hydro project would actually save the GCEA about $45,000 per year. Millions of dollars in maintenance are saved due to the contract with its primary wholesale energy supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. 

“The rate we pay to Tri-State is fair. A lot is included in it, so I think there is an overall savings to be with Tri-State,” added GCEA CEO Mike McBride.

Figures show that while only 47% of its members use paperless billing, that saves the co-op $52,000 annually. Automated meters save approximately $300,000 a year and GCEA has received millions of dollars in federal grants to offset costs.

“Every decision we make includes the thought on how it impacts customer rates,” said McBride.

VanderVeer said the GCEA was committed to efficiency, prioritizing smart spending, resourcefulness and cost controls to deliver maximum value to the members. “Our 4.5% rate increase is necessary to ensure reliability to our members,” he said.

Asked by an interested GCEA member how GCEA rates compared to similar towns in the area, McBride said Buena Vista has similar rates but might be a bit higher. Montrose, he said, was probably cheaper in part because they sell more kilowatt hours per mile of line thus bringing down some fixed costs.

The same member said his business would actually see an increase significantly higher than 4.5%. He projected a 9.5% increase or about $1,200 a year. “Seems some businesses will feel more of the brunt,” he said. “The rate increase is impacting different customers, differently.”

McBride said that was true. “There will be different experiences for different rate classes. Commercial class did see a larger increase,” he said while noting that the board is looking at revamping the GCEA rate design in the future, but that concept was in a very early stage of the process.

Crested Butte resident Sue Navy asked if the GCEA could consider giving seniors a discount on their bills. “People on a fixed income would greatly benefit from that as costs go up,” she said suggesting the service charge could be a place to implement such a break.

“That is an interesting question,” responded McBride. “We haven’t looked into that, but we can. Not sure how the state laws we abide by would impact that.”

After an hour the meeting concluded, and McBride promised the board and staff would keep working to provide the best service possible to GCEA members. “We will take into account the questions and comments we heard tonight going forward,” he said.

The last rate increase from GCEA came in March of 2024 with an overall increase of 5%. This latest jump will begin January 1, 2025.

By Kendra Walker  

Local electric cooperative Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) has a new way of generating energy for the Gunnison Valley with the recent completion of its Taylor River Hydropower construction project. GCEA and the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association (UVWUA) commemorated the completion of the plant’s construction phase last week with a ribbon cutting ceremony, and plan to begin commercial power production around September 20. 

The $3.6 million project located at the Taylor Park Dam is a partnership between GCEA and the UVWUA. The new 500-kilowatt (kW) hydroelectric turbine and generator at the site will operate at or near full capacity 24 hours a day, year round, to produce an average of 3.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually. That amount of generation compares to some 2,500 kW (2.5 megawatt) fixed tilt-solar arrays and, according to GCEA strategy execution specialist Matt Feier, will provide clean electricity to approximately 500 local homes and businesses in Gunnison County. 

“To the best of our research, we believe the Taylor River hydroelectric facility (at 500kW) will be the largest single phase hydroelectric generator in North America…and possibly the world!” said Feier.

Construction on the project began in May 2023, but the hydroelectric vision has been in the works far longer. According to Feier, the Taylor Dam was designed with hydro power generation in mind when it was constructed in 1937, and various feasibility studies have been conducted since at least the 1980s. In 2020, GCEA and the UVWUA formed Taylor River Hydro, LLC to jointly develop, own and operate the plant, which has gone through permitting, design and construction processes over the last four years. 

GCEA provides the electric infrastructure and UVWUA manages the water flowing through the dam. The plant connects to the existing dam penstock and GCEA’s single-phase distribution line. 

Feier explained the process: “The new facility draws approximately 65 cubic feet per second of water out of the eastern penstock within the existing valve house. This water is piped to our Frances turbine within the newly constructed metal building at the base of the dam. The turbine spins, which in turn spins the generator and generates an electric current. This energy flows into GCEA’s existing distribution system and down to GCEA’s Alkali substation (located near Jack’s Cabin Cutoff) where it is distributed within GCEA’s service territory. After turning the turbine, the water flows back into the same spilling basin as the Taylor Dam’s main outflow,” he said. “This hydro generator will be a ‘run of the river’ facility and will not affect river flows within the Taylor River.”

Feier said the Taylor River Hydro project is a welcome addition to GCEA’s current clean energy portfolio, and it will bump up GCEA’s local renewable energy generation. “This new hydroelectric facility will get us to approximately 3% local generation and we are working to gain the other 2%+ from local solar array developments,” he said. 

GCEA has two community solar gardens at the Crested Butte wastewater treatment plant and at the GCEA headquarters in Gunnison, and a small wind turbine in Doyleville. “Within GCEA’s contract with Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association we can generate up to 5% of our energy supply locally,” said Feier. GCEA also has two more solar projects currently in the works, including the Oh Be Joyful solar project that will be located at the Baxter Gulch trailhead outside of Crested Butte and another community solar garden in Gunnison. Once complete, those solar projects could help the co-op meet its current 7% local renewable energy goal outlined in its strategic plan.

“The completion of this facility has been a long term GCEA goal and a GCEA Board strategic priority,” said Feier. “Tri-State continues to evolve and support its members by encouraging local renewable energy projects such as Taylor River Hydro. GCEA is pleased to do its part by exploring local options for a clean energy transition in our area.”

GCEA also receives 34% renewable energy from Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, which has committed to be 50% renewable by 2025, 70% renewable by 2030, and achieve an 80% carbon reduction from their 2005 level by 2030.

“GCEA relies on Tri-State for a large portion of our energy transition strategy because they can implement projects more cost-effectively than we can and have resources to do so much more. They’re on a path to increase their renewable energy portfolio and making a lot of progress,” said GCEA CEO Mike McBride. “With Tri-State’s support and UVWUA’s partnership, GCEA is excited to provide clean renewable energy to its service territory without any negative impact on member’s electric rates.”

Money can help GCEA meet strategic goals

By Allen Best / Big Pivots 

Three Colorado electrical cooperatives, including the primary supplier of energy to the Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA), will be getting chunks of a $9.7 billion federal program designed to aid rural America in making the transition to a clean energy economy.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which delivers power to 41 member cooperatives across four states, including GCEA, is in line to get $679 million. That award is in the underwriting stage.

“We are optimistic that our application will move forward and be fully funded,” said Lee Boughey, vice president for communications at Tri-State.

The money comes from a program called New ERA (Empowering Rural America), which was funded through the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress in 2022. The program has been called the most important investment in rural America since President Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 signed the Rural Electrification Act. That law provided funding to promote electrification of widely dispersed customers in rural America that investor-owned utilities had found too expensive to serve.

In remarks in Wisconsin last week to celebrate the funding, President Joe Biden also drew comparisons to the legislation that created the interstate highway system in 1956.

GCEA chief executive officer Mike McBride said the announcement is good news for Tri-State and the local co-op. “GCEA relies on Tri-State for a large portion of our energy transition strategy because they can implement projects more cost-effectively than we can and have resources to do so much more,” he said. “Being selected as a finalist for New ERA funding enables Tri-State to more affordably make that clean transition, and GCEA is grateful to be a beneficiary of Tri-State’s clean energy portfolio to help us reach our strategic goals.” 

New ERA funding will have impacts far larger than the dollar amounts, said Uday Varadarajan, senior principal on the electricity team at RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute). One key provision of the Inflation Reduction Act allows electrical cooperatives to access money for clean energy that was previously unavailable to them because of their nonprofit status. Tax credits for clean energy development were available to for-profit developers and utilities but not rural cooperatives. Provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will level the playing field. 

“There are strong reasons to believe that the program over time will increase their financial confidence in really moving more aggressively to take advantage of clean energy, which is increasingly competitive and reliable,” he said.

New ERA funding will allow rural electric co-ops to overcome their reluctance to go into further debt and by reducing the burden of their old debt. With less aversion to taking on new debt, explained Varadarajan. They can feel more confidence about investing in new renewable generation — and owning it instead of mostly buying the generation through power-purchase agreements.

Varadarajan credited Tri-State in making the pivot from being just a big cooperative to now becoming a leading cooperative in aggressively taking advantage of the incentives to move thoughtfully and carefully to transition their system from fossil fuel generation to renewable resources. 

And Colorado’s prominence among the recipients also reflects on the state’s political leadership and the grassroots support, he said.

Tri-State lobbied hard for a carve-out in the Inflation Reduction Act that would allow it and other cooperatives that serve predominately rural areas of the United States to get assistance in the energy transition. Based in Westminster, Tri-State had become heavily anchored in coal-fired generation and was weighted down in the transition by the debt on some of these coal plants.

The federal money will be used by Tri-State to support the retirement of 1,100 megawatts of coal-fired generation. It shut down one coal plant in New Mexico in 2019 and has plans to close the three coal-burning units it operates at the Craig Generating Station from 2025 to 2027. It had originally planned to close Springerville 3, a coal plant in Arizona, in 2040, but the promise of the federal funding has given Tri-State the comfort to pay off undepreciated debt in the plant and move up its retirement to 2031. It has made plans not to divest from generation at the Laramie River coal plant in Wyoming.

The award will help Tri-State procure 1,480 megawatts of renewable energy in the form of solar, wind and battery storage. This conversion will reduce member costs an estimated $422 million over 20 years.

The original letter of intent for New ERA funding, submitted by Tri-State a year ago, was for $970 million. Because of the number of applications from across the country, Tri-State and other applicants were advised to moderate their requests. Tri-State was invited to submit a proposal for $679 million.

Through a mix of low-interest loans and grants, Tri-State would look to leverage this budget authority to support investments that could total more than $2 billion for 18 different projects. It plans to issue a request for proposals in September.

In an interview, Duane Highley, the chief executive, said that Tri-State began getting news in early August that it was in line to receive funding. That, along with news from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that aligned with Tri-State’s plans, made it his single best week since he joined Tri-State as chief executive in April 2018.

The financial award is also making Tri-State more attractive in the eyes of Wall Street analyst. Highley said Tri-State had been in conversation with Standard & Poor’s and the two other credit agencies. “They are extremely excited,” he said. 

The federal money will result in “less risk, a stronger balance sheet and lower rates” for Tri-State’s members, he said.

Tri-State’s ratings had been declining in recent years as member cooperatives left Tri-State to pursue what they consider to be greener pastures elsewhere. Kit Carson Electric in New Mexico left in 2016 and has succeeded greatly. It was followed by Delta-Montrose Electric in Colorado and then, on May 1 this year, United Power. Three others are now in line to leave.

In rural Colorado, the announcement was welcomed by individuals who get power from cooperatives supplied by Tri-State.

“This is such exciting news,” said Jeff Delaney, a resident of Crested Butte and member of the Gunnison County Climate Crisis Coalition. “Rural communities have been looking in from the outside as the country transitions to clean energy, and this funding opens the door for our communities to be able to reap the benefits of the move to renewable energy and leave the harm of fossil fuels in the rear-view mirror.”

United Power, an electrical cooperative based in Brighton that has 112,000 members in northern Colorado, expects to get $261 million. Until May, it got all but 5% of its electricity from Tri-State. CORE Electric Cooperative, which is based in Sedalia, also was named a recipient. Colorado was the lone state to have multiple winners.

See more stories about Colorado’s energy transition at BigPivots.com

Stern now focused on low rates and lower greenhouse gas emissions

By Mark Reaman

In a relatively tight election for the Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) board of directors, Frank Stern took the top spot in a three-way race for the open “at-large” seat. The district 7 at-large seat will be filled by Stern who won with 542 votes or 36.6% of the ballots cast. Edward Howard received 513 votes (34.7%) and Shannon Hessler received 424 votes (28.7%).  

Polly Oberosler of district 6 was unopposed in the election and received 1,204 votes. The total number of valid ballots cast in the election was 1,485, which is 16.53% of the 8,983 eligible member votes.

Stern and Oberosler will begin their three-year terms effective immediately.

Stern said he was grateful for being elected to the board. “My top priority is to maintain or lower rates while maintaining a reliable system and achieving GCEA’s existing goals of 70% renewable energy and 90% greenhouse gas reduction by 2030,” he said. “I’m looking forward using my experience to serve the community and working with the rest of the GCEA board and staff.”

Oberosler too was grateful for the show of support. “Although I was an uncontested candidate for the Gunnison County Electric Association board district 6 seat, I appreciate the 1,200 or so folks who checked the box for me,” Oberosler said this week. “I look forward to another term and being a part of not only keeping the lights on and being a community partner, but the many changes both now and on the horizon. It is an exciting and challenging time for the power business here and around the globe.”

GCEA administration sent congratulations to all the candidates and appreciated their willingness to serve the association. CEO Mike McBride also thanked Mark Daily, who stepped down from the district 7 seat, for his nine years of service on the board and wished him well in his future endeavors.

Timeliness of contribution disclosures an issue

By Mark Reaman

Things got a little spicy in the Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) election as one District 7 candidate filed a formal complaint against another. Frank Stern filed a formal complaint against Shannon Hessler on May 30 alleging she did not disclose a couple of campaign contributions in the required timeframe. The board of directors held a special meeting on June 3 and determined one of the complaints was legitimate and the second was “unfounded.”

According to Stern’s complaint, he felt Hessler’s disclosure statement posted on May 22 on the GCEA candidate webpage violated the GCEA election policies. His complaint stated that the board policy is clear that “A candidate must complete a Disclosure Report and provide it to the GCEA Executive Assistant prior to the candidate using a Campaign Contribution for the benefit of his/her campaign.”

 Stern alleged that, “The April 15 in-kind contribution for photography was clearly received well before posting and seems likely to have been used as her two campaign ads and her mailing contained photographs…It seems likely that Shannon received a pledge or promise, which was not disclosed, for the $5,000 Protect Our Winter (POW) contribution prior to receiving the money on May 22. She’s published at least two newspaper ads and issued a bulk mailing before that date. I have particular insight into this likelihood as I was offered a contribution by the same political action fund last year. I turned it down because I did not think outside contributions were appropriate. Note that they offered the money first, they did not just give it to me.”

Stern told the board in his complaint that given the size of the POW contribution and disclosure timing, lack of timeliness might have a significant impact on the election. “I believe this is particularly important due to the contribution by an outside political action fund. The infusion of a large amount of money to a candidate from an outside source is something that should be brought to the attention of voters,” he stated in the complaint.

Stern initially made the GCEA administration aware of his concerns last month and according to GCEA CEO Mike McBride, he was given the opportunity to have his allegations remain informal and not be taken to the Board of Directors. “Frank did not choose this option which would have meant some investigation and then counseling Ms. Hessler as to her compliance obligations,” McBride said. “The other choice we gave Frank was to submit his allegations directly to the Board and thereby trigger board action. Frank made a formal complaint to Michelle Lehmann, Board President, on May 30.”

Once the formal complaint was submitted, McBride worked with the co-op’s general counsel to investigate the allegations and report back to the board. “The working concept of the Board’s process is to ensure a fair and accurate process for alleged violations as well as considerations of fairness of the election in general with respect to the consequences,” he explained. “The board bases its analysis of issues concerning disclosure rules on the primary purpose of the disclosure rules which is to provide GCEA members with information regarding contributions of outside interests which may be relevant to a member’s decision to vote for a particular director candidate.”

The GCEA issued a press release on Monday explaining that the GCEA Board of Directors met in a special meeting on June 3. The purpose of the meeting was to review the formal allegations for violations of campaign disclosure requirements.

“The board of directors determined that Ms. Hessler was late in disclosing in-kind photographic services provided to her campaign. The Board concluded that lateness of the disclosure and the subject matter cannot reasonably be considered to have any significant impact on the election,” the GCEA press release stated. “The Board indicated that both the disclosure and its finding of the technical violation were made in a sufficient amount of time prior to the election to minimize any potential impact on voting decisions by members. The Board directed GCEA staff to note the technical violation of the applicable election rules on the candidate profile of Ms. Hessler on GCEA’s website.”

As for the second alleged violation with the $5,000 Protect Our Winters contribution, “the Board determined that Mr. Stern’s allegation was unfounded and that Ms. Hessler did not violate election rules regarding her financial contribution disclosure,” the statement relayed.

Stern had no comment on the situation after the board findings were made.

Hessler said she is ready to refocus on the issues at hand. “I am really excited to have the support of so many people interested and engaged in this election, and I am extremely humbled by the Protect Our Winters (POW)’s and others endorsement,” she said. “POW is a bipartisan group that works to engage outdoor enthusiasts to protect the places we love and an organization I have been extremely involved with as a volunteer for 5+ years. When this election complaint process came up, we got it fixed right away and I am thankful to the GCEA Board and staff for a thorough and fair review. I am excited to get back to the conservation about our cheaper, cleaner energy future.”

GCEA’s board president, Michelle Lehmann, said on Monday that “our process to review potential rule infractions during our election is rigorous and thorough. Our members rely on the integrity of the election process. We encourage director candidates to carefully follow all election rules.”

GCEA board trying to dampen impact of inflation

By Mark Reaman 

The proposed Gunnison County Electric Association’s rate increase is expected to provide about $1 million more per year to the local electric co-op. The 5% increase would begin this spring so only $832,000 would be collected in 2024.

Several reasons are responsible for the proposed increase, including a rise in the cost of wholesale power from Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association along with general inflation. GCEA chief executive officer Mike McBride said the local co-op was hit with a the rate increase from Tri-State for wholesale energy this year and while it was the first increase from them in seven years, the local rate increase proposal is not even covering the entire bump. 

“This proposed rate increase is not primarily due to the Tri-State increase since Tri-State has not passed along a rate increase to GCEA in seven years, and this increase from Tri-State amounts to less than 1% per year on average over that time. Several factors contributed to this proposed rate increase, including inflation, supply chain challenges and the 6.6% rate increase from our wholesale power supplier,” he explained. “Our projections indicate we need a 6.8% rate increase to cover our increased expenses in 2024, but the board of directors elected to mitigate and absorb a significant portion of the cost increase. By limiting the rate increase to 5% and deferring it until March 1, the board helped members keep $660,000 in their pockets.”

According to McBride, the GCEA board also strategically delayed the rate increase to start on March 1, 2024, to assist members during the months of highest electricity usage. He said that in doing so, GCEA will absorb approximately $260,000 in increased costs, “helping members keep even more in their pockets.”

All GCEA rate classes will be impacted by this rate increase, which will be distributed across the monthly service availability charge, demand charge (for large power and industrial accounts), and the energy or kWh charge, as indicated by its most recent cost of service study. Residential accounts will see a $3 increase to their monthly service availability charge plus an increase to their energy (kWh) charge. Basically, the average residential consumer using roughly 704 kWh per month will see a $6.87 increase to their average monthly bill. A residential consumer-member using 1,000 kWh/month would see an average monthly increase of $8.53. 

GCEA rates have gone up 10.7% in the last five years and 17.7% over the last decade. “By comparison, the CPI (Consumer Price Index) projected increase is 21.3% over the five-year period ending in 2024 and 29% over the 10-year period ending in 2024 (using the October 2023 consensus estimate of 3.2% for 2024),” explained McBride.

There is no requirement for the state Public Utilities Commission to approve the proposal, only the GCEA board of directors is required to vote for approval of the rate increase. McBride made clear that the board has not yet voted to approve the increase. “The board authorized publication of the proposed rates and there was no dissenting vote,” he said. “There was unanimous support for the mitigation actions taken to lessen the impact on members.”

A virtual public meeting was held on Tuesday, January 9 to let GCEA members ask questions and make comments about the proposal. There were no direct protests over the proposed rate increase, but a few people asked if other cost savings measures were being considered. GCEA chief financial officer Mark VanderVeer said he has studied the budget line item by line item and not seen a lot of places for cuts.

“We recognize that costs are increasing in nearly every sector of the economy and GCEA members are being financially impacted by this proposal,” McBride concluded. “We hate to raise rates and I hope that the actions taken by the board to minimize the rate increase and its impact show GCEA’s commitment to our members.”

The board will officially discuss and vote on the rate increase proposal at its January 24 meeting.

Most votes cast in years…two seats up in 2024

By Mark Reaman

In the hotly contested race for the Gunnison County Electric Association’s District 1 seat on the board of directors, incumbent Greg Wiggins retained his seat over challenger Frank Stern. Election results were released on June 22. District 1 is located in the North Valley and includes the town of Crested Butte.

Wiggins received 831 votes, or 57% of the ballots cast, while Stern tallied 624 votes. According to the GCEA, the total number of valid ballots cast in the election was 1,512, which is almost 17% of the 8,921 eligible member voters.

“I will continue my commitment to focus on reliability, affordability and safety,” said Wiggins. “I think Tri-State is moving in the right direction and I will support their Responsible Energy Plan.”

GCEA CEO Mike McBride said that the co-op does not break down the vote by district to see where votes for a particular candidate were stronger than in other districts. “We do not have data to provide a view of the vote by district, by candidate,” he explained. “GCEA’s elections have never been structured to tally votes in a manner that would show how many members residing in a particular district voted for a particular candidate. Unlike a political election where a candidate represents a particular district, GCEA’s elections for director seats are ‘at large.’ All GCEA members, regardless of the district in which they reside, can vote for or against all candidates vying for director seats that are up for election.”

GCEA was able to provide the total number of votes by district and, to no one’s surprise, members residing in District 1 cast the most votes at 471. District 3 voters cast 348, District 2 had 225, District 5 had 198 members vote and District 6 tallied 123. There were four votes cast from an undetermined district.

GCEA executive assistant Sherry Shelton said the next board election will be in a year. The 2024 director election will coincide with the annual meeting that’s held in June per GCEA bylaws. Seats up for election next year are Districts 6 and 7. District 6 is currently held by Polly Oberosler representing “The Tomichi Creek area east of the City of Gunnison to the Continental Divide within the certificated service area of the Association.” This includes Parlin, Sargents, Pitkin and a portion of Saguache County (Cochetopa area). District 7 is the at-large seat held by Mark Daily since 2015.

“We’ll ask the GCEA Board of Directors to finalize a date for the annual meeting at a future regular meeting, and the GCEA will post legal notice of the election and annual meeting date in December this year,” Shelton said. “We’ll then start sharing information in January/February 2024 for how to become a candidate, via our website and in a mailing to all members, typically in the February edition of the Colorado Country Life. At that time, we’ll be advising that candidate packets with nominating petitions are made available mid-February, with a deadline to submit petitions for candidacy in mid- to late April, 60 days before the annual meeting/final day of election.”

In this year’s election, Michelle Lehmann of District 4 and Tom Carl of District 5 ran unopposed. Tabulated votes for these seats were 1,153 for Lehmann (District 4) and 1,188 for Carl (District 5). Results for the association name change passed with 1,225 (91.8%) votes in favor of changing the legal name to Gunnison County Electric Association from The Gunnison County Electric Association. The votes against the name changed tallied 109 (8.2%).

Inadvertent wording gave wrong impression

By Mark Reaman

The Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) and its chief executive officer Mike McBride posted an apology on its Facebook page on Tuesday, June 13 over a mistake that went against election protocol. 

The coop had posted a photo of current GCEA District 1 board member and candidate Greg Wiggins with GCEA employees at a Watts Up Summer event inviting people to “come see us at the Four Way in Crested Butte to meet GCEA candidate Greg Wiggins, drive an EV, demo a wheelies and waves e-bike and check out Fullmer Ace electric outdoor power equipment…”

The post was deleted from the GCEA Facebook page Tuesday and in a letter on the social media site, McBride said the reason for the deletion was that, “the post improperly implied GCEA support for a particular candidate in the director elections which are underway right now. I want to personally apologize and let the public know that our error was inadvertent and unintentional. We are taking internal actions to address this situation. GCEA does not support or oppose individual director candidates in the election. We invite interested GCEA members to get to know each candidate who is running for a GCEA Board seat to visit https://www.gcea.coop/board-of-director-candidates/.”

Wiggins is being challenged for his seat by Frank Stern.

The new post also reminded GCEA members of the various voting deadlines. People can vote electronically until June 16, they can vote by mail as long as the ballot is received by the election administrator in Minnesota by June 20 and they can vote in person at GCEA’s Gunnison headquarters from 5 to 6 p.m. on June 20 at GCEA’s annual meeting. 

Details are available on the GCEA website at: https://www.gcea.coop/2023-election/.