Playing team sports growing up taught me to recognize the importance of playing my position, improving my skills, and trusting my teammates to play their part so our team could be successful. Working at a rural electric cooperative is like a team sport and requires the same mindset. Each employee at Empire Electric Association plays their position so as a team we can provide safe, responsible, and reliable energy to our member-owners.
Another similarity cooperatives and sports teams share is tracking progress using statistics. Safety is paramount to EEA. Every employee receives training to gain the necessary skills to work safely and return home each evening to their family. Our employees take safety seriously and it shows in our safety statistics. As of June 5, EEA has worked 2,668 days — that’s seven years and three months — without a lost-time accident. EEA received the second highest rating possible on our last formal safety review by the Colorado Rural Electric Association.
Part of EEA’s mission to supply responsible power is to also be affordable. EEA has worked over the last several years to improve processes and take advantage of technology to keep our costs low. It has been challenging given increased inflation and other forces that are outside of EEA’s direct control, but our focus on affordability has improved our standing when compared to other Colorado electric cooperatives.
Each year the Colorado Association of Municipal Utilities conducts a rate survey of all electric providers in Colorado. CAMU provides usage parameters for typical rate classes and requests utilities provide the total bill cost. This method allows a fair comparison of what a typical electric consumer pays for service in different areas of the state.
In 2020, EEA ranked 19th out of 26 cooperatives that serve Colorado residences. In 2025, EEA moved up to 7th out of 26 cooperatives. Part of the improvement was due to rate structure changes that provide EEA members with opportunities to change when and how they use power to save on their bill while accomplishing the same amount of work. For large commercial members, EEA improved from 21st in 2020 to 6th in 2025.
Affordability must be balanced with reliability. EEA understands our members’ need to have reliable power, and we plan accordingly. Planning incorporates having crews, equipment, and material available at a moment’s notice to address outages or power quality concerns. Long-term planning ensures we have the capacity available to supply our community as it grows. The reliability standard metric used by US electricity providers is the System Average Interruption Duration Index. In 2024, the average EEA member experienced 2 hours and 38 minutes of total outage time. That equates to a SAIDI score of 99.97%. EEA’s 10-year average is 99.975%.
As the need for electricity continues to grow, EEA will continue to play our position, delivering affordable and reliable power while keeping our employees and members safe. We appreciate your support and look forward to working together for many years to come.
