2023 Annual Report - Committed to Safety, Reliability, and Affordability
Joint Article By Ruth Marks, MVEA CEO & Joseph D. Martin, MVEA Board President
Building on the strong foundations created through 83 years of fiscally responsible leadership and sound business practices, in 2023 we focused on six strategic priorities: safety; reliability and resiliency; affordability; member engagement; employee relations; and technology and innovation.
A few of the unique milestones related to these priorities include receiving three federal grants to support our wildfire mitigation efforts, broadband expansion, and electric vehicle charging capabilities. We also started the process to implement a series of exciting programs that include the transition to an Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) that supports automated outage detection and restoration, load management, system mapping, meter management, and much more.
In addition, we will be expanding our wildfire mitigation efforts with a proactive plan that includes the use of advanced satellite and lidar image technology as well as increased inspections, vegetation management, and infrastructure replacements.
There is a lot of excitement around our fiber broadband expansion and a lot of Mountain View Electric Association members who look forward to having access to high-speed fiber internet options. While we are behind on the initial project schedule, we made progress in 2023 to get back on track and worked with Conexon to provide a more accurate service availability time frame to members.
MVEA remains one of the fastest growing electric cooperatives in Colorado, adding between 1,500 and 2,000 new accounts a year. Last year, over 1,500 new members were welcomed to MVEA — growing our membership to more than 55,500. Our kilowatt-hour sales grew by 0.84% from 947,482,023 kWh in 2022 to 955,445,909 in 2023.
While we do talk about the co-op’s growth and sales, it’s important to note that MVEA’s rates and fees are set to generate revenue to cover operating costs, pay debts on construction loans, and provide an emergency financial reserve — not to create profits.
To that en
d, rate changes are a hard but necessary part of running a not-for-profit business that relies on innovation and technology to provide a safe and reliable service. While we announced a rate change in 2023, the first in seven years, we hired an independent rate consultant to develop a cost-of-service study, to ensure the impact to our members was minimal while ensuring the financial health of the co-op remained strong. The overall impact to residential members averages out to a 6.9% increase per month.
How do MVEA’s new rates compare to other utilities in the state? According to the Colorado Association of Municipal Utilities’ survey of Colorado’s electric rates, we are right in the middle when compared to other electric utilities (including electric cooperatives, municipalities, and investor-owned utilities). Learn more about our rates at www.mvea.coop/rates.
The most important milestone of the year came directly from you, our co-op members. In September, Mountain View Electric Association completed a member survey through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to measure our American Customer Satisfaction Index Score. We are proud to share that we increased our overall satisfaction score from 79 to 85 since our last survey in 2017.
This is a great accomplishment, ranking us with the likes of Chick-fil-A®, and is a direct result of our dedicated employees and mission-driven business practices. It truly is an honor to serve MVEA’s membership.
In closing, we invite you to join us as we recap MVEA’s accomplishments and business growth during the co-op’s 83rd Annual Meeting of Members on Thursday, June 6, at the El Paso County Fairgrounds. In addition to the business meeting, we will have food trucks and activities for the entire family to enjoy!