Tri-State membership gathers for 56th annual meeting

More than 400 electric cooperative representatives and industry officials attended Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association’s 56th annual meeting, held April 2-3 at the power supplier’s Westminster, Colo., headquarters, where they were formally introduced to the organization’s next executive vice president and general manager, Ken Anderson, and addressed numerous issues and challenges facing the electric utility industry.

Anderson has served as Tri-State’s senior vice president of generation and power management for the past three years.  He officially assumes his new responsibilities following the retirement of current general manager J.M. Shafer, who is scheduled to step down on July 1.

“I’m pleased and honored that Tri-State’s board of directors has put their confidence in me to lead the organization,” Anderson said.  “I realize that first and foremost we need to continue to deliver on our primary mission of providing our 44 member co-ops with a reliable and affordable supply of electricity.  We also need to continue to work to develop the necessary resources to meet their member-consumers’ increasing demand for power – and to use the resources that we have as wisely and efficiently as possible.”

Shafer, who is retiring after enjoying a 42-year career in the electric utility industry – including the past five years at Tri-State’s helm – echoed those sentiments in his final report to the membership.  “It is vital that we continue to press on with the development of baseload generating resources to fulfill our 24/7 obligation to our members,” he stressed.  “Despite obstacles we’re bound to encounter, we must forge ahead – using the best technology that is available today – in order to adequately serve the new loads that will be added to our system in the years ahead.”

Shafer also took the opportunity to review some of the activities and highlights of the past year.  “Our board and staff continued to invest significant time and effort in pursuing a strategic, balanced resource plan that focuses on our near-term and long-term power requirements, with an emphasis on sustained reliability, baseload, intermediate and renewable resource development, enhanced energy efficiency programs and new technology deployment.

“We realize there’s not a simple, single answer to the many issues that Tri-State and other utilities across the country are facing today,” Shafer said.  “Factors such as increased regulatory and legislative requirements, environmental concerns, rising costs and market volatility are challenging the industry.  We must continue to work toward balanced, strategic and innovative solutions in order to avert a possible energy and economic crisis, and we have to actively participate in the process by engaging our elected officials in important, meaningful dialogue as public policy is being debated.”

In keeping with the mission of providing its 44 member distribution cooperatives with a reliable, competitively priced supply of power, in 2007 Tri-State delivered a record 13.5 million megawatt-hours of electricity to its members, while recording an all-time high member peak demand of 2,417 megawatts in July.  Combined with off-system energy sales, the G&T sold a total of 18.7 million megawatt-hours for the year, and posted year-end revenues of $1.02 billion and assets of $2.4 billion.

Tri-State supplies power to 18 member electric co-ops in Colorado, 12 in New Mexico, eight in Wyoming and six in Nebraska, which in turn provide electricity to more than 588,000 meters or a population of approximately 1.4 million people.

Updated: April 3, 2008