Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is at a crossroads as its 42 rural co-ops look to generate more of their own electricity or buy it on the open market
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative
After long battle, 3 Colorado electric co-ops may renegotiate with Tri-State instead of leaving outright
In the jockeying for a new relationship between Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and the rural cooperatives it supplies with electricity, three Colorado co-ops are seeking partial contracts with the power wholesaler — instead of leaving outright. Tri-State and some of its cooperatives have been battling over the association’s long-term contract, which requires members to […]
United Power should be able to leave Tri-State for less than a tenth of a proposed $1.6B exit fee, federal report says
In the running battle over how much a suburban Denver electric cooperative must pay to leave the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the co-op picked up some ammunition in a report by a federal energy economist that calls the association’s exit fee calculations flawed and unreasonable. The exit fee for Brighton-based United Power should be […]
Rural electric co-ops get shocking estimates of the cost to break up with Tri-State Generation
Rural electric cooperatives seeking to leave the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association have received exit fee estimates in a federal filing and it adds up to billions of dollars The respective price tags for two Colorado co-ops in the forefront of the exit movement — Brighton-based United Power and Durango-based La Plata Electric Association — […]
Co-ops trying to leave Tri-State say the electric utility is “stonewalling” by refusing to calculate the price to exit
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is “stonewalling” efforts by seven rural electric cooperatives – in Colorado, New Mexico and Nebraska – to get estimates on how much it will cost them to leave the association, according to a complaint filed with federal regulators. “Tri-State’s refusal to perform the calculation required… is patently unjust and unreasonable,” […]
Tri-State’s clean energy battles with two Colorado electric co-ops now threaten the utility’s finances
The battle between the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and two of its Colorado electric cooperatives seeking to ditch their memberships has become so pitched that it is now sprawling across state and federal regulatory agencies and the courts. The two – Brighton-based United Power and the Durango-based La Plata Electric Association – want to […]
Two more electric co-ops are trying to leave Tri-State Generation. They’ve asked the Colorado PUC for help
Two of the largest electric cooperatives in the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, frustrated in their negotiations with the power wholesaler, are asking the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to set reasonable fees for them to exit Tri-State. Two other co-ops have already negotiated exit fees — the Delta-Montrose Electric Association and the Kit Carson Electric […]
Tri-State, under pressure from its member co-ops to change or fall behind, is shifting to renewable energy
In a sign of how quickly the electricity industry is changing, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is taking a quick paced series of steps to deal with market pressure and complaints from some of its member cooperatives. Westminster-based Tri-State — power provider to 43 rural electric cooperatives in four states, including 18 in Colorado — […]
Bold $500 million offer to replace 3 coal-powered plants with renewables, gas met by reluctance from Tri-State
Guzman Energy made the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association an offer that it apparently could refuse. The Miami-based energy contractor is ready to pay about $500 million to buy three coal-fired power plants and a coal mine near Craig from Westminster-based Tri-State with plans to close them. In their place Guzman would build a combination […]
Colorado co-op’s fight for renewable energy could upend how rural communities are powered
A battle between a Western Slope rural electric cooperative and one of the country’s largest co-op power providers has intensified, setting the stage for what may be a significant change in how and where some rural communities get their electricity. On one side is the Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA), the Montrose-based co-op serving about 33,000 […]