DENVER – Four Corners residents won a round Wednesday against the company that supplies their electricity – a victory that could inject state regulation into matters that for decades have been treated as “family disputes” among rural electric cooperatives.
An administrative law judge for the Public Utilities Commission denied Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s bid to dismiss a complaint against it. Tri-State had argued the state has no authority to oversee its business, and a Tri-State spokesman said Wednesday’s ruling could lead to higher rates for all its customers.
La Plata Electric Association and Empire Electric Association filed a complaint with the PUC in March to say Tri-State’s new wholesale pricing scheme discriminates against them. They complained that the new rate greatly raised prices for co-ops that had been doing a good job of saving electricity and shifting use to off-peak times.
Residential customers and energy companies saw steep price hikes because of the new rate, which took effect in January. Several gas and oil companies and White River Electric Association in Meeker joined the Southwest Colorado co-ops in the case,
Wednesday’s decision means the LPEA and Empire case can go forward, although it may be many months until it is resolved.
Tri-State will appeal the decision to the full Public Utilities Commission, a three-person board appointed by the governor.
“The association’s wholesale rate ensures electric cooperative consumers, no matter their size, receive an affordable and equitable wholesale rate for the electricity they use,” said Tri-State spokesman Lee Boughey.
Tri-State, the major power supplier for rural co-ops and parts of suburban Denver, has closely guarded its independence from the PUC.
The company is owned by members, such as LPEA, which have a seat on Tri-State’s board, and matters traditionally are handled with “the family.”
But LPEA and Empire felt ignored when the new rate was created, so they asked the PUC to assert – for the first time ever – that it has jurisdiction over Tri-State’s rate design.
“Maybe they should listen to us a little bit more,” Munro said. “It might open the door to more conversations with the family, instead of going to the courts.”
Tri-State argued that the U.S. Constitution prevents a state agency like the PUC from regulating the company because it provides electricity across state lines.
“Any attempt by a state to regulate the association’s rates will cause significant injury to all of the association’s members, including our 18 Colorado member cooperatives and our 26 members in Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming,” Boughey said in an emailed statement.
It was unclear Wednesday when the next hearing in the case would be.
jhanel@durangoherald.com
