You've Got the Power

~Anne Boswell

Holy Hades, It's Hot!

It's "Satan's Convection-Oven-Like Hot" and you've probably been regretting seeing your electric bill.

There are things you can do to lower your monthly bill, like setting your thermostat higher and using ceiling fans to circulate air. However, you might consider learning more about how that reliable and safe electricity is delivered to you by keeping up with the operations of the folks that bring it to you.

I know, it's a lot, but seriously, you have the power as a member of an electric cooperative, such as Southeast Colorado Power Association, San Isabel Electric, Mountain View Electric or KC Electric. And if you live in town, you might get your power delivered to you through your municipality which gets the electricity from ARPA, Arkansas River Power Authority.

But you can also be in the territory to receive your power from an investor owned utility, such as Black Hills.

Now, how do YOU have the power as a member, member consumer, customer?

Good question.

First of all, you can check in by attending a public meeting of the board of directors, this is where business happens such as discussing upcoming rate increases, plans to power up a proposed data center and more. Governance can be quite interesting and quite useful to you as knowledge is power.

Some of the highlights from the meeting minutes approved and posted from Southeast Colorado Power Association included:

• A request to increase what they pay per diem on their board of directors

• A change of the annual meeting for members from April to the third week of March, (traditionally Spring Break week for some in Southeast Colorado)

• The cost of the annual meeting

• Updates to power outages, and poles lost in storms or other events

• A financial update on if the organization is operating in the black or in the red

• And a very real prediction of a possible increase of 15% in the cost of power in the next two years

You can also keep track of what's going on with ARPA and their meetings, and agendas, although as of this writing, the current meeting minutes had not been posted. Sometimes that happens because they have not yet been approved. At any rate, you can find and follow along, right here.

https://www.arpapower.org/board-meetings/

For a further deep dive, you can also read more about Tri-State, who generates and transmit electricity to many of Colorado's rural co-ops along with co-ops in neighboring states.

https://tristate.coop/

But what if I get my power from Black Hills? Well, you do have resources available to you through their website, https://www.blackhillsenergy.com/

Just like with electric cooperatives, they offer rebates to customers to help you save money with your bill and on any improvements to your home.

Just poke around on the site, it's all there.

There's so much talk about the grid, reliability, etc. that you owe it to yourself to learn more about that power that comes into your home.

You probably don't even think about it when you turn on a light, a fan, or enjoy your favorite show on television.

But thinking about it and learning more about it, makes you a smart, educated consumer. And when you know about things, you can prepare.

While it's not that exciting, it DOES give you the POWER, and that's pretty exciting!

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