Sangre de Cristo Electric Association, Inc. > Blog > Your Co-Op News – January 2020

Your Co-Op News – January 2020

A wire-cutting ceremony on the project was held in last spring.

GENERAL INFORMATION

SANGRE DE CRISTO ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION, INC.

  • A private, local, independent electric service supplier
  • Approximately 13,000 consumers mutually- own this rural electric cooperative — that is you, our account holder.
  • Incorporated under the laws of Colorado
  • Governed by a board of directors that you elect from the membership

PROGRAMS, SERVICES AND BENEFITS OF BEING A MEMBER OF SANGRE DE CRISTO ELECTRIC:

  • 24-hour outage and emergency service
  • Online bill pay
  • Automatic bill pay options
  • Prepay account option
  • Local operations and consumer services representatives
  • Community grant-giving programs
  • Safety demonstrations
  • Informational presentations
  • Renewable resource programs, including roof-top solar, community solar and green energy blocks
  • Energy efficiency credits for appliances and electric heating
  • Youth opportunities—Youth Tour, college and trade scholarships
  • Monthly newsletter Colorado Country Life
  • Headquartered in Buena Vista. Our office is located just north of town on Highway 24. In addition, five lineworkers, an engineering technician and a warehouseman/custodian work out of our Westcliffe facility.
Bryon Stilley began work as the new chief operations officer at SDCEA last fall.

OFFICE HOURS:

Our business office at 29780 North US Highway 24 in Buena Vista is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. We are closed for most legal holidays.

Not convenient to stop by? Many services may be accessed on our website, myelectric.coop.

CAPITAL CREDITS:

SDCEA has been in business for 79 years. Unlike an investor-owned electric utility, margins or funds left over once liabilities are paid for the year are allocated to you, our consumers, in the form of capital credits. We began refunding capital credits in 1987.

If you leave our service territory, please let us know any address changes you have, so we can locate you when we refund your capital credits.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND MANAGEMENT:
Board of Director Officers

  • Chair: Joseph Redetzke, at large
  • Vice Chair: Dan Daly, at large
  • Secretary: Suzanne Kelly, rural Chaffee/ Lake counties
  • Treasurer: Charles A. Abel II, rural Chaffee/ Lake counties

Directors

  • Dave Volpe, Town of Buena Vista
  • Geoff Gerk, Fremont County
  • Tom Flower, Custer County Management
  • Paul A. Erickson, chief executive officer
  • Sarah McMahon, chief administrative officer
  • Donnie Schell, chief financial officer
  • Bryon Stilley, chief operations officer

RENEWABLE ENERGY:

Nearly 40% of SDCEA’s power supply is provided by renewable resources.

The Trout Creek Solar facility began operation in early 2019.

SOLAR FARM:

In early 2019, SDCEA contracted with Trout Creek Solar, LLC, to provide roughly 4.7% of this cooperative’s energy usage. Trout Creek’s solar array is located on the grounds of the Buena Vista Correctional Facility. The array is projected to generate 5,752 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, or enough to supply about 685 typical SDCEA member homes.

GREEN BLOCKS PROGRAM:

SDCEA’s renewable energy is supplied primarily through our wholesale power supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission. Tri-State contracts for hydro, solar and wind-generated power from renewable energy producers.

Nearly 40% of Sangre de Cristo Electric Association’s baseline or every-day electricity supply to all consumers is comprised of renewable energy. Through the Green Energy program, members who opt to do so may purchase an additional amount of renewable energy, beyond the 40%, to add to their account. No additional equipment is required.

COMMUNITY SOLAR:

Interested consumers may purchase a subscription to invest extra funds each month to buy in to locally-generated energy output from the Trout Creek Solar facility.

ROOF-TOP SOLAR:

SDCEA has one of the highest percentages of roof-top solar penetration in the state of Colorado. If you are considering adding a solar panel to your home or business, call us or visit our website first to find out more about adding renewable energy to your home.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY REBATES PROGRAM:
Rebates in the form of bill credits for purchasing Energy-Star rated appliances and commercial lighting rebates are available through our power supplier, Tri-State. For more information on those programs, please check our website, myelectric.coop, and go to the Save Energy and Money tab.

ON THE WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA:

Check SDCEA’s website, myelectric.coop for bill pay, outage information, rebate forms, news, and service requests.

SDCEA also has a Twitter account and a Facebook page. Follow us and receive information from SDCEA via social media.

In May, SDCEA board member Geoff Gerk awarded Cotopaxi High School graduating senior Hannah Karg a certificate recognizing her scholarship award.

SCHOLARSHIPS:

SDCEA offers multiple scholarships each spring for students attending any accredited college, university, community college, or vocational/technical school. Details and necessary qualifications are available on our website.

Also available through SDCEA are scholarships from associated organizations.

YOUTH TOUR:

Washington D.C. Youth Tour takes students to our nation’s Capitol for a weeklong journey to experience our government first-hand. Applications for this trip are due in early January of each year, with the trip taking place the following June.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

SDCEA offers a number of convenient payment options. Members may pay in person or use the drop box at our office in Buena Vista, pay by mail, pay online, or arrange for payment to be deducted from a bank account, credit or debit card automatically each month.

Prepay is another option for consumers. In the Prepay program, consumers do not have to pay a deposit, but instead elect to pay-as-they go for electricity. For more information, contact our office.

ONLINE ACCOUNT INFORMATION:

You can access your bill, monitor your electric usage, contact our office and access your information through our website at myelectric.coop.

Simply click on the “My Account” box at the top of the screen and set up an account if you are new to the system.

To set up or update an auto-pay account, sign into your account. Once you sign in, click on “Billing & Payments,” then click on “Auto Pay Program.” It is that easy.

You may also access your billing history, usage information and other member-only sections on the website through this portal.

SDCEA’s annual meeting drew a crowd to Cliff Lanes in Westcliffe in June.

OUTAGE INFORMATION:

No electrical system is outage-proof, although we do our best to keep outages to a minimum. Many causes of outages, such as weather and car accidents involving power poles, are beyond our control. If you have an outage, please follow these steps:

Check the circuit breakers or fuses in your house.

If your meter is on a pole, there may also be an additional breaker below the meter. Please check it, too. If possible, check with your neighbors to see if they have power. Sometimes it helps us to pinpoint a problem if we have a better idea which services are out of power.

Call our office 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-719-395-2412 or 1-844-395-2412 to report an outage if your breakers are on and you are without power.

NOTIFY US OF ANY POTENTIAL DANGERS:
Contact us if you see any potential danger on our system, such as trees in the lines, downed lines, etc. Never try to clear the line yourself and stay back at least 60 feet from a downed power line.