A statewide viewpoint
If you look back at the columns I have written for Colorado Country Life each January, you can likely predict that the topic will be the start of another session of the Colorado General Assembly. More specifically, how the Colorado Rural Electric Association works to protect the interests of Colorado’s electric co-ops during each 120-day legislative session.
This year, CREA celebrates the 80th anniversary of the founding of the trade association. One of the primary drivers of the creation of CREA in 1945 was the need for Colorado’s electric co-ops to be represented at the state capitol. Although the electric co-op program was initiated by actions taken at the federal level, namely, an executive order signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935 and an act of Congress creating the Rural Electrification Administration in 1936, many important decisions relating to the operations of Colorado’s co-ops were left to our state legislature. Recognizing that they needed a unified voice at the state capitol, Colorado’s electric co-ops came together to create CREA.
So, for the last 80 years, CREA has worked with thousands of state legislators to tell the electric co-op story and remind them how co-ops provide light and power to 70% of the land mass of the state. The CREA team has been on the ground at the state capitol for eight decades advocating for policies that will ensure the viability of the electric co-op business model and the strength of co-op communities.
We do this work with a great team of hardworking lobbyists and policy experts. In a companion piece in this edition of CCL, you will meet Taylor Ward, CREA’s Director of Government Relations. Taylor is new to CREA and he brings a wealth of legislative and policy experience to this role. Taylor heads up our government relations shop and he is ably assisted by Craig Johnson, CREA’s Director of Policy and Strategy and General Counsel. Craig has several decades of electric utility policy and legal experience, including stints with the Platte River Power Authority and CORE Electric Cooperative. Craig has provided legal representation and policy advice to many different electric utilities and trade associations, and his wealth of knowledge on co-op issues is instrumental to our success in the policy world.
In addition to our in-house team (which includes my nearly three-decade career representing electric co-ops), CREA also retained the services of a contract lobbying firm, the Capstone Group, for the 2025 legislative session. The Capstone Group has a long record of success with the general assembly, and it adds yet another layer of support to CREA’s legislative work.
We look forward to another great legislative session this year and another 80 years of success for Colorado’s electric co-ops!
Kent Singer is the executive director of CREA and offers a statewide perspective on issues affecting electric cooperatives. CREA is the trade association for 21 Colorado electric distribution co-ops and one power supply co-op.