How fast things can change! When I was elected to the La Plata Electric Association board in 2017, we had multiple directors who denied the existence of climate change. In a recent LPEA candidate forum, all seven candidates who attended agreed that climate change is a big problem, and we need to do something about it.
Last year, some candidates claimed that LPEA was wasting money on legal expenses. Yet because of that legal pressure from LPEA and others, Tri-State recently agreed, after negotiations at FERC, that they would reduce rates by 2% in 2021 and an additional 2% in 2022. Since LPEA spends about $70 million each year with Tri-State, this will result in a savings to LPEA of about $1.4 million in 2021 and additional savings of $2.8 million in 2022. Spending $1 million on legal fees resulted in savings of $4.2 million for LPEA!
These things don’t just happen. LPEA has made a lot of progress over the last few years because some directors have worked very hard. And no one has worked harder than Tim Wheeler. Tim has served as treasurer, chairman of the Finance and Audit Committee, and as a member of the Power Supply Committee and the Broadband Committee. He has also served as LPEA’s representative on the FastTrack board.
If we want to continue our forward momentum, this is not the time to bring in inexperienced directors. If you live in District 4, help keep the “wheels” turning by voting for Tim Wheeler.
Guinn Unger
Bayfield
