Six candidates have qualified for the 2024 La Plata Electric Association Board of Directors election, including four candidates vying for two open seats.
The annual election and meeting, which was supposed to be held in May, was postponed until September because of inconsistencies with the co-op’s bylaws.
This year’s election has two contested races, including District 1 in Archuleta County and District 4 covering the northern and eastern parts of La Plata County.
Districts 2 and 3 incumbents, Kohler McInnis and Ted Compton, are running unopposed.
One topic on all candidates’ minds is what the power co-op will do now that it plans to get out from under its contract with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc.
In District 1, Dusty Mars will be taking on incumbent Kirsten Skeehan. Skeehan is the co-owner of Pagosa Baking Co. in Pagosa Springs and has spent the last 26 years working with LPEA and Archuleta County Housing Authority.
Skeehan has served as the District 1 board director since 2018 and has operated Pagosa Springs Baking Co. since 1999.
If reelected, Skeehan would like to focus on solutions for LPEA’s exit from Tri-State in two years as well as the future of power supply. In March, the board elected to vacate its contract with the power wholesaler.
Skeehan voted in favor of doing away with the Tri-State contract, saying she was on the fence about the decision but felt it gave LPEA more flexibility with its power solutions.
Under terms of the contract with Tri-State, LPEA was obligated to purchase at least 95% of its power from Tri-State through 2050. LPEA objected to that limit, saying local demand to produce solar energy exceeds the 5% cap.
Skeehan said her preference would be to develop the right partnerships to vet power purchase agreements in order to find to find a “build-to-own or build-to-lease” power supply situation.
“We need to really take advantage of our nimbleness, use our continuing ties at Tri-State, because we certainly aren't breaking ties with them. We're going to be buying our transmission from them,” Skeehan said.
The co-op will still be getting a majority of its transmission from Tri-State because that’s who owns a bulk of the lines, she said. But after the contract ends with Tri-State, the co-op will have to figure out a bridge power solution that will likely consist of LPEA power projects and other short-term contracts, she said.
Her opponent, Dusty Mars, is an engineer from Arboles who owns Ample Returns LLC, an agricultural supply company.
“I’m uniquely qualified to serve as a board member of LPEA,” Mars said. “Having extended family that are current members, and roots here that run back to the 1800s, what transpires to keep affordable and dependable energy delivered in the cleanest manner possible is of great importance.”
Mars said his background as an engineer makes him well-suited for the position. He was approached by members in Archuleta County who wanted him to run because they felt a lack of transparency from the LPEA board of directors regarding the co-op’s decision to pull away from Tri-State.
“There was a lot of questions that they felt had gone unaddressed and so they had asked me, based on my background,” Mars said.
Mars said the move to move away from Tri-State was a smart one but that the board could have been more communicative and had a set plan for leaving the wholesaler.
He said now that the board has made the move to terminate the contract, directors will have to focus on paying down the debt owed to Tri-State.
District 4, overseeing north and east La Plata County, will feature John Purser running against incumbent Tim Wheeler.
Purser called foul on the inconsistent bylaws, which led to the postponement of this year’s election. Purser has unsuccessfully run twice for the board of directors.
He has been against the board’s decision to break contract with Tri-State and voiced similar concerns regarding the co-op’s debt and the board’s lack of transparency.
“The LPEA board has committed us to leave Tri-State, the nonprofit cooperative that has a long history of reliably providing our electricity,” Purser said. “Our board has not told us the cost of exiting our contract. Regulatory filing indicates it’s $207 million.”
Purser said the co-op’s decision was based on the utility’s desire to have local control and to benefit special-interest groups rather than its members. But by his definition, local control means having power at a reasonable cost.
“With approximately 36,000 members, this comes down to $5,750 of debt per member,” he said. “This debt is not to provide electricity, this is to break our contract with the nonprofit cooperative that has reliably provided our power.”
He said it is unlikely Tri-State will want to conduct business with LPEA after the contract expires.
Like Mars, he plans to advocate for greater transparency when it comes to the board’s decision-making.
Purser pointed toward the board’s lack of communication regarding Tri-State and fees related to the construction of the Sunnyside Solar Garden.
“They've been working on that for close to three years,” he said. “They were 2½ years into it before they even told us the pricing, and they're slapping a 5% fee on it for regular members, because it's locally generated power.”
Wheeler is an advocate for leaving the power wholesaler, saying LPEA faced limitations under Tri-State. Wheeler has served LPEA for the last six years as the board treasurer, chair person of finance and audit committee, and on the board of directors.
“I am motivated by members’ desire to decide our own energy future, working conscientiously to provide affordable, local, clean energy while building the utility of the future,” he said.
During his time with the board, Wheeler said the co-op has reduced emissions by more than 10%, cut wholesale rates by 4%, and returned $3 million to $4 million in capital credit refund to members.
The sale of FastTrack Communications and operation of the Sunnyside Community Solar Garden were also selling points for Wheeler.
The garden offers solar power with reduced electric bills for income-qualified members.
Regarding concerns of transparency, Wheeler said LPEA has the most transparent board out of any power cooperative in the state, but added there’s always room for improvement.
There’s a certain level of confidentiality based on who the cooperative is conducting business with, he said. If a company or an organization requires that a negotiation be confidential, the co-op must honor it or it could face litigious action.
“It is rarely the case that LPEA wants to keep something confidential,” he said. “It is usually because other parties are asking us to do this, and I think we try really hard to avoid that whenever possible.”
Ballots will be mailed to LPEA members in mid-August. To be counted, ballots must be received no later than 4 p.m. Sept. 17, the co-op said.
Election results will be confirmed at LPEA’s annual meeting, scheduled to take place on Sept. 18 at LPEA’s Durango office.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
