Our recent move to our new member service building provided many opportunities for Empire Electric Association employees to see reminders of past generations and their dedication to deliver reliable and affordable power to our member-owners. Photos, documents, and mementos paint a vivid picture of the legacy we are proud of and hope to maintain well into the future. Balancing reliability and affordability while continuing to focus on performing our work in a safe manner will help us continue the legacy established by those employees who came before us.
Our focus on reliability includes maintaining and upgrading our distribution system as well as continuing our partnership with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, our wholesale power supplier. We completed replacing older copper conductor in Dolores this past year and have a steady stream of members requesting transformer upgrades for beneficial electrification of their homes. Our plans include upgrading or replacing two of our substations to meet future growth. And we continue to refine vegetation management practices to reduce outages and minimize the risk of starting wildfires.
Tri-State continues to offer its member cooperatives innovative solutions while meeting its obligations to provide reliable power and comply with state and federal regulations. Tri-State is working to execute its electric resource plan approved last year by the Colorado Public Utility Commission. The resource plan exceeds industry standard reliability requirements as well as Tri-State’s own extreme weather reliability metrics.
EEA’s recent wholesale electric supply contract renewal includes options for the co-op to increase its level of self-supply to 60% from the current 5%. We are diligently seeking opportunities to increase our self-supply that will benefit our membership.
On the affordability front, I am very pleased to announce the budget our board approved last November does not require a base rate increase. I appreciate our employees’ continual effort to control costs while maintaining a distribution system that exceeds 99% reliability.
Although EEA’s base rates will not change, you will see an increase in the Power Cost Adjustment. Tri-State announced an average increase of 7.5% last fall to meet rising material costs, investments in assets that ensure reliability, and increases in wholesale power costs. Purchased power represents 50% to 60% of your bill depending on your rate and usage, which means the Tri-State increase will result in an estimated increase of 3.75%–4.5% to your total bill. The 2026 PCA will not be finalized until this month.
I am also pleased to announce our employees have continued to place safety first, resisting complacency. As of this writing, our employees have worked 2,822 days with no lost-time accidents. This achievement requires individual as well as team effort to make sure everyone returns home safely to their family each night, and I commend them for their effort.
2026 marks EEA’s 87th year providing power to our member-owners. Our success continues to rely on your support as well as our employees’ efforts. We appreciate you and we look forward to serving EEA members for many years to come.
