MVEA – Your Home Team Electric Cooperative

At Mountain View Electric Association, our roots run deep in the communities we serve — we are your home team electric cooperative, and members like YOU are the real MVPs! The 82 nd Annual Meeting of Members, held at Falcon High School on June 8, was an opportunity to take care of the important business of the cooperative, sharing the financial health and forecast of priorities for the coming years, while also serving as a fun event (with a baseball theme) to build a real sense of co-op community.

As guests started to arrive, the school was filled with laughter, conversation, and the camaraderie that is born among members who take an active role in their electric cooperative. Over 400 guests (including 281 registered members) enjoyed dinner, information booths, prize drawings, and the MVEA business meeting.

Before the business meeting, members had an opportunity to visit booths to learn more about MVEA’s programs and services including Operation Round Up®; tree trimming for safety and reliability; outage reporting; and MVEA’s popular rebate program (which is supported by Tri-State Generation and Transmission). There were also representatives from Connect, powered by Mountain View Electric Association, on site to help answer co-op member questions about the fiber broadband project and future high-speed internet services.

This year, there were two districts where Directors’ three-year terms were up for election: District 2, Rick L. Gordon; and District 7, Jim Riggins. District 2 was an uncontested Director election, while District 7 was contested (see results on page 9). Following the Director Election portion of the meeting, Education Chair Kevin L. Paddock, District 5, gave a report on the $28,000 in scholarships awarded this school year, and Chief Executive Officer Ruth Marks recognized MVEA’s 2023 Youth Leadership Trip Contest winners.

Board President Joe Martin and CEO Ruth Marks gave their reports on the state of the cooperative. The Board President’s report included a 2024 rate forecast to include adjustments to mitigate increasing cost pressures and included an overview of MVEA’s progressive capital credits program (which has resulted in more than $78.9 million in retirements over the course of the co-op’s history).

Ruth Marks, CEO, celebrated her first Annual Meeting at MVEA. Her report included updates on MVEA’s strategy map, co-op growth, community solar (on hold due to increasing costs), federal funding opportunities, and the fiber broadband project.

Following their reports, President Martin and CEO Marks took questions from members in the audience as well as questions submitted on cards that had been collected. Questions included requests for clarification on Tri-State’s rates and renewable energy portfolio; MVEA’s plans to build a community solar project; and questions about MVEA’s 2022 Financial Report.

While almost all of the questions were answered during or immediately following the meeting, there was a request for clarification on what makes up MVEA’s “other” revenue as reported in MVEA’s annual financial report. The answer: this is the revenue from MVEA’s Schriever Space Force Base and street lighting (towns and cities) rates. Another member asked for information about electric vehicle chargers in MVEA’s service territory. Drive Electric Colorado has a great website, www.driveelectriccolorado.org, with helpful tools to find public chargers. Members with questions about MVEA’s rebate program, and the complete product offering, should visit www.mvea.coop/rebates.

Interested in learning more? To access the business meeting slides, election results, event program, and financial annual report, visit www.mvea.coop/annual-meeting.

Don’t miss next year’s Annual Meeting of Members! Mark your calendars and save the date:

MVEA’s 83 rd Annual Meeting of Members will be held June 6, 2024, in Calhan.