So, our electric power bills have just gone up – mine is double what it was just a few years ago. And Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, our wholesale power supplier, says to meet rapidly increasing “demand” it plans to build three new coal-fired power plans estimated at about $50 billion – and that’s only the beginning.

In the San Miguel region – and in most of Western Colorado – we’re all member-owners of local electric co-ops. That means we all have a say in the policies of both our local co-ops and their supplier co-op. In theory, at least. The San Miguel Power Association, our local power distributor, is a “member” of Tri-State’s 44-member electric power cooperative.

Sounds pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?

The good news is that Ron Binz, former head of Colorado’s Office of Consumer Counsel and a leading utility industry expert and consumer advocate, has just been appointed by Colorado’s new governor, Democrat Bill Ritter, to head the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The PUC oversees and regulates planned rate increases, expansion plans and the budgets of the state’s investor-owned utilities – think Denver-based Xcel and Quest.

The bad news is that a few years ago San Miguel Power convinced its members that this sort of oversight wasn’t needed here – after all, SMPA’s boardmembers were our neighbors and friends, so we had an easy say-so about electric power policies. Thus, SMPA is no longer under the jurisdiction of state regulators.

For some years, I’ve been retired from the front lines of rate and power politics, but not a whole lot has changed since the days of the empire-building Colorado-Ute Electric Association, the Montrose based rural electric wholesale power supplier and a major player in Western Colorado politics. Until it overplayed its hand and went bankrupt, Colorado-Ute saw itself as a preeminent force in the economic development of Western Colorado. Attuned to “if we build it they will come,” Ute made sure that electric power was readily available – ahead of time – for every sort of enterprise, from uranium mining to resort development.

Perhaps leaders of the Delta-Montrose Electric Association have longer memories than some other of Tri-State’s member co-ops. DMEA Manager Dan McClendon says his association and its boardmembers are “really concerned” about Tri-State’s push to have its 44-member co-ops lock in their power purchase contracts for an additional 10 years. Current contracts run to 2040. Extensions, then, would run to 2050.

In contrast, San Miguel Power’s General Manager Bobby Blair last week urged SMPA boardmembers to agree to the contract extension, saying it would lock in lower costs for consumers here. Luckily for us, SMPA’s boardmembers postponed that decision until their March 19 meeting to allow consumers time to consider this new proposal.

DMEA’s McClendon already knows how his board stands. He says DMEA boardmembers have already notified Tri-State that DMEA won’t sign the proposed contract extension. Tri-State has warned that non-signing member co-ops will likely face wholesale electric rate increases. McClendon says, in fact, Tri-State plans to enact a new policy soon which “will penalize those (member co-ops) who do not sign” the contract extension.

Whoa. DMEA, like Tri-State’s 43 other member co-ops, has a firm contract with this wholesale power supplier, which runs until 2040, McClendon points out. McClendon and others describe Tri-State as “coal people” – not much interested in promoting efficient power use, renewable energy or what’s known as “real time pricing.” This has to do with an overall pricing system that encourages consumers to avoid using unneeded power during short periods of time when fluctuating wholesale costs are high. 

DMEA’s manager says, “Single members (of Tri-State) can’t do this alone.” The Tri-State leadership must take the lead in putting together this new  “demand” pricing system as a means to keep consumer bills down.

Nancy Hovde, of Cedaredge, is DMEA’s representative on the 44-member Tri-State board – and its only female member. She spoke to me with great caution. Hovde told me she fully supports DMEA’s aims in calling for the purchase of more renewable energy, among other policy changes. But, she also says, “I’ve seen some progress. Tri-State is drafting a policy for demand-side management.”

So far, only 13 local electric cooperatives have declined to sign up for Tri-State’ s 10-year contract extension plan. Clearly Tri-State’s strong-arm tactics are having an effect. DMEA hopes other rural electric coops and their ratepayers will consider the long-term consequences of bring tied into Tri-State’s $50 billion expansion plans. 

DMEA’s McClendon strongly questions the “long term need” for building these new power plants and thinks it’s likely the power plant construction costs will run even higher. He says Tri-State leaders have shown little interest in “promoting renewables” – solar, wind, hydro, for example. Basically, “They’re coal people,” he observes.

McClendon says a significant portion of the projected need for more power comes from energy development demands, particularly “gas compression loads.” This has to do with a part of the natural gas extraction process in which large amounts of electric power are required. These new customers will need “hundreds of megawatts of power,” he warns. Giant energy corporations will create the demand for more power, but Tri-State’s 44-member cooperatives “will pay for the generation.”

“DMEA believes our farmers and ranchers shouldn’t have to pay these costs,” he says. If Tri-State wants to supply power for these corporate energy development plans, the corporations should pay – upfront – for new power sources.

Les Renfrow, DMEA’s board president and longtime activist in rural power affairs, says the federally subsidized Rural Electrification Administration was created in the 1930s to bring electricity to America’s rural areas. The REA “brought light to the dark places,” farms and ranches in much of Western Colorado, for example, that were well beyond the nearest power lines. “We were focused on the end user,” he says. “We were here to serve. And now I think we’ve lost that focus.” He blames the federal bureaucracy and the “G&Ts” for that loss and see Tri-States tactics as “intimidation.”

Paonia’s Ed Marsten, a leading Western journalist, pundit and former DMEA boardmember, points out that longtime DMEA officials clearly remember the arrogance of Colorado-Ute leaders and their expansionist policies. “We already have a history of disaster that costs (Colorado-Ute’s) owners millions.” Marsten says another reason that DMEA is leading the opposition to Tri-State’s ambitious is the fact that “we have a very courageous manager.”

San Miguel Power Association ratepayers need to keep a close eye on these troubling issues. Perhaps we can generate a little courage, too.