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Colorado’s second largest electrical cooperative has contracted with The Energy Authority to manage electrical supplies

 

United Power, Colorado’s second largest electrical cooperative, has chosen a non-profit electrical energy manager called The Energy Authority, or TEA, for when it leaves Tri-State Generation and Transmission. That projected date is May 1, 2024.

”I don’t want to have six people and their computers and the tools necessary to look at power prices all over the West,” explained Mark Gabriel, the chief executive, “That is something they do every day 24/365.”

The non-profit, with offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Bellevue, Wash., manages energy portfolios.

The organization has several services that it offers, and it has roughly 50 to 60 client municipal and cooperative utilities across the country, with at least 17 of them in the Western Interconnection. TEA Solutions, a companion non-profit, is specifically geared to work with electrical cooperatives. United Power, serving a broad belt north of Denver, from Nederland east to Keenesburg, has roughly 108,000 customers.

In an interview, Gabriel said that in building a portfolio of energy generation, there are three ways to manage the resources to ensure the lights stay on and at the least cost.

“You can manage the resources and the interplay of resources by yourself.  You could go to somebody like Guzman Energy or Shell and have them manage the resource mix for you. Or you could go to an independent non-profit.”

Guzman has been chasing the business of United and other municipal and cooperatives who have been exploring the world beyond their current providers. (See story on page 23). Does this mean it’s out of the picture?

Absolutely not, says Gabriel. “We will have a variety of resources to support our members, and Guzman will undoubtedly be in that mix. But that is not the service we are talking about. The service we are talking about is power marketing and resource management. That is not the provision of the actual electrons. It is managing the electrons. There will be multiple providers.”

Making TEA attractive as a manager, said Gabriel, is that it has broad expertise across the country that gives it insights in the various costs of power supplies. “That is very important as we think about the future.”

It also has modeling programs that Gabriel describes as expensive, and which require the expertise to use them.

United plans a mix of what Gabriel calls the hyper local. “I want as many generation and storage resources across the United Service territory as I can obtain.”

At the same time, United wants to be integrated into regional markets as quickly as those services become available, so that low-cost power from other locals can become available.

Still to be worked out is how much United will have to pay Tri-State to leave the remaining 41 cooperatives “whole” and unburdened by the loss of United. United’s contract with Tri-State, struck in 2006, goes to 2050.

United has sued Tri-State, alleging breach of contract. That case was to begin on June 26 in Adams County District Court but has been delayed. A press release from United accused Tri-State of stalling.

Allen Best
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