Who Supplies Our Power?

Occasionally SDCEA attributes a power outage to either Black Hills Energy or Xcel Energy transmission line issues.

Why is that? Isn’t SDCEA a power supplier?
SDCEA contracts with wholesale power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission to provide power to distribute through our lines and infrastructure. Tri-State relies on Black Hills Energy’s transmission lines to deliver power to certain SDCEA members who live in our southern service territory through what is called a wheeling agreement.

Similarly, Tri-State relies on Xcel Energy to deliver power to the northern section of our territory. These types of agreements are standard practice across the nation’s electric grids. It is not practical or economically viable for every power supplier to build separate electric generation plants or lines into every service area, especially in more remote locations such as south-central Colorado.

The U.S. power system is an interconnected network built on a collaborative concept. Wheeling power agreements allow power providers to move electricity between grids, to ensure reliability, bridge supply gaps, and leverage the system’s interconnectedness to provide consistent power to consumers.

Decades ago, it was not profitable for electric companies to supply power to rural areas and rural areas often lacked the resources for private utilities to bring power their way. That is why electric cooperatives including SDCEA were formed through the national Rural Electrification Act as not-for-profit independent entities, to deliver electricity to rural residents just as urban areas receive it. That collaboration continues today with agreements like ours, ensuring all residents within towns and in rural areas have access to reliable power.