Community
Virtual Annual Meeting Questions or Comments
Below are the questions and comments submitted during the Virtual Annual Meeting.
Question 1:
My question has to do with the system you are using for reporting power outages.
We had a power outage a few months back and called the number as directed. The response was they would call back if we left out number. It was quite awhile before they called back and they were not informed about where we were even when we gave them our address and told them we had no power. If fact we had to call several times because they said there had not been a report of an outage in our area. We were out of power for 6 or 8 hours because they did not know where we were and evidently did not pass on the information we had an outage.
Do you have an independent group taking those call? We were very upset with the response and service. At least when your employees were taking the calls they were familiar with the area and where we lived. This was not even during a storm. The weather was perfect but they could not even give us an idea when we would have the power back on or what the cause was.
Answer 1:
Thank you for reaching out to us. To ensure we can associate your outage with your account it is important to make sure we have valid phone numbers listed on your account(s). We do work with a third-party call center to assist during high call volume times and after hours. They are able to collect our member’s information and report the information to us. If the member has a new phone number, the caller is not listed on the account, or the member has multiple accounts additional steps may be needed to report the outage. I understand our Member Services Supervisor has followed up with you directly to verify the contact information on the account is accurate and she shared that in addition to calling to report an outage, you may also contact us via SmartHub or by texting “OUT” to 1-800-388-9881. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to improve this process for communicating with you in the future.
Question 2:
You made no mention of the extremely important topic of Green Energy. You should have given a current status and plans regarding Green Energy. I am extremely disappointed.
Answer 2:
Your feedback is valued as it provides insight into a topic of interest. Trying to find the right balance between talking time and topics to discuss is always a consideration when planning our Annual Meeting. While our big news in recent years has been our co-op’s growth, more recently, it is the changes to our wholesale power supply through Tri-State Generation and Transmission. Throughout 2019 and in to 2020, the topic of renewable energy and Colorado’s changing energy landscape may be familiar. Some notable changes include: large-scale policy change driven by the decreasing cost of renewable energy, increasing support for an energy portfolio change by Colorado’s elected officials, the passing of House Bill 19-1261 “A Climate Action Plan To Reduce Pollution,” and the creation of the Responsible Energy Plan (REP) by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, MVEA’s wholesale power supplier. Some of Tri-State’s REP action items, to meet regulatory demands, include: increasing renewables to 50 percent of energy consumed by members by 2024; reducing emissions with the closure of coal-fired generation facilities operated by Tri-State in Colorado and New Mexico; increasing member flexibility to develop more local, self-supplied renewable energy; and, extending the benefits of a clean grid through expanded electric vehicle infrastructure and beneficial electrification programs. Tri-State was already a generation and transmission renewable energy leader amongst electric co-op’s in the U.S. going into these changes as the number one solar power generation and transmission cooperative in the nation, with a renewable energy portfolio over 30 percent and growing. Since Tri-State is MVEA’s wholesale power supplier, any policy or change that impacts Tri-State, has a potential to impact MVEA members. The announcement of the REP, and the plans to close Tri-State’s coal-fired generation facilities in Colorado and New Mexico, has raised questions and received a lot of media coverage. Tri-State has shared that the changes will not impact rates or reliability — the end goal is a cleaner grid and a reduction in emissions, not increased rates. Tri-State’s leadership and board of directors are unified in their goal to create a lower-cost wholesale power portfolio that is clean, reliable, and affordable. For additional information about Tri-State’s REP and MVEA’s power supply, visit www.mvea.coop/our-energy-mix.
MVEA works to continually learn from our co-op members about their priorities so we can better serve you—because your electric co-op was built by the community, for the community. We not only value member questions and comments, we know that we need members to share their perspective to keep the co-op message relevant as MVEA continues to grow in an evolving energy landscape.
