Thank you to all of our members who attended K.C. Electric Association’s 80th Annual Meeting in Seibert. I know June is a busy time of year for our membership and I’m grateful for the members who could attend the meeting.
K.C. Electric is served by a nine-person board of directors that is elected by the membership. The board consists of five representatives from Kit Carson County, three representatives from Cheyenne County, and one representative from Lincoln County. Each year during the annual meeting, three directors are elected to serve a three-year term. During this year’s annual meeting the membership elected two directors from Kit Carson County and one director from Cheyenne County.
The business portion of the meeting consisted of my annual report, a presentation about cybersecurity, and a linemen panel discussion.
During my annual report, I discussed K.C.’s safety record, the extension of our wholesale electric service contract with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association through 2066, and discussed the co-op’s 2025 financials and capital credit retirements.
I also discussed electric rates and what K.C. is doing to keep rates affordable and power reliable. I finished my speech talking about fire mitigation and K.C. Electric’s efforts to reduce the risk of wildfire in our service territory.
Arnel Manalo from Tri-State gave a presentation about cybersecurity and how we can protect ourselves from becoming victims of fraud. Coloradans lose hundreds of millions of dollars to cybercrime and online scams annually, impacting everybody both young and old.
Next, Board President Kevin Penny moderated a panel discussion that included Operations Manager Darren Fox, Cheyenne Wells Area Foreman Casey Hyle, and Stratton Area Foreman Austin Talbert. Their discussion focused on how K.C. crews respond to outages, how the restoration process works, and how safety plays a critical role in everything we do.
President Kevin Penny also announced the 2026 scholarship recipients:
- Kamryn Talbert of Stratton — $3,000 from K.C. Electric
- Elle Bohnen of Stratton High School — $3,000 from K.C. Electric
- Lyndi Huelskamp of Arriba-Flagler High School — $1,000 from K.C. Electric
- Aliyah Muth of Cheyenne Wells High School — $1,000 from K.C. Electric
- Evan Scheimer of Cheyenne Wells High School — $1,000 from K.C. Electric
- Roxy Unruh of Cheyenne Wells High School — $1,000 from K.C. Electric
- Alyssa Rueb of Hi-Plains High School — $2,500 from Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- Sky Richards of Stratton High School — $1,000 from Tri-State Generation and Transmission
Congratulations to each of these scholarship recipients. I wish them good luck in their future endeavors.
Board Director Kevin Penny was recognized for 45 years of service and Director Jerry Allen was recognized for five years of service to the K.C. Electric membership. What an accomplishment for these two men; we thank them for their service.
As we do every year, we gave away a number of door prizes throughout the meeting, and a grand prize of $1,500 was given to a lucky member in attendance.
Before the meeting ended, K.C. Electric Attorney Jeff Cure informed the assembly of the director election results. The vote tally for the uncontested election in Cheyenne County was 405 votes for Robert Bledsoe. The vote tally for the contested election in Kit Carson County was 338 votes for Kevin Penny, 266 votes for Michael Nichols, and 258 votes for Dan Mills. Robert Bledsoe will serve a three-year term representing Cheyenne County, and Kevin Penny and Michael Nichols will each serve a three-year term representing Kit Carson County.
The electric industry in Colorado and throughout the entire country is changing at a very rapid pace, and we must continue to adjust to these changes. I can assure you we will keep working hard to deliver the high-quality service you expect and deserve from your cooperative.
I hope to see you on Thursday, June 3, 2027, in Stratton for our 2027 Annual Meeting.
David Churchwell is the general manager of K.C. Electric Association, a rural electric distribution cooperative based in Hugo, Colorado.
