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Advanced La Plata Electric Association on several fronts but co-op remains a full member of Tri-State G&T

 

Jessica Matlock will become chief executive of PNGC Power, the sole operating generation and transmission cooperative in the Pacific Northwest. It serves power to 16 utilities in seven Western States.

She has had the same chief executive position at Durango-based La Plata Electric Association since the summer of 2019. It is the fifth largest among Colorado’s 22 electrical cooperatives.

The announcement of her move said that before she arrived at La Plata, it ranked near the bottom of financial performance for cooperatives. It is now in the top three in Colorado.

Under her leadership, La Plata also built the first cooperative-owned community solar project in the region, partnered to bring the first vehicle-to-grid (V2G) in Colorado, and implemented sophisticated grid-monitoring systems to increase La Plata’s resiliency and response time.

During her time at La Plata, she also tried to steer La Plata into a position to take advantage of the evolving energy landscape. The utility is still restricted in its options by a long-term contract with Tri-State Generation and Transmission that requires La Plata to get 95% of its power from Tri-State. It had hoped to go to a 50-50 arrangement, but that fell through.

La Plata still does not know for sure how much it will have to pay to get a partial contract with Tri-State or a full divorce.

Before La Plata, Matlock was a member of the executive leadership team for 13 years at the nation’s 11th largest public utility (Snohomish Public Utility District).

Prior to this, Jessica worked as an energy expert for the U.S. Senate and held numerous positions with the Bonneville Power Administration. She grew up on a ranch in Colorado, riding her horses in events and showing her turkeys at county fairs. She also served in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Allen Best
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