Mountain View Electric Association held its 72nd annual meeting of members Aug. 3. The historically festive occasion was muted this year by the impacts of the Black Forest fire. Association leadership spoke to members about rate changes and the financial effects of the fire.Also, new board members were elected for the coming year.The meeting, originally scheduled for June 13, was postponed because of the fire that started June 11. The food purchased for the original meeting was donated to Tri Lakes Cares for distribution to first responders and displaced residents, said Joseph Martin, board president. The company donated the $2,100 budgeted for meeting food and entertainment for the rescheduled meeting to the Black Forest fire relief fund. Falcon High School ROTC volunteers served donuts and coffee to members.Martin discussed a new rate design policy that took effect in March. ìOne of the tenets of this policy says to move in the direction of collecting fixed costs through fixed charges and recovering energy costs through energy charges,î he said.ìThe bottom line is that for the average user, there will be zero increase. If you use less than our average residential customer uses, which is 888 kWh, you will see an increase. There is tremendous upward pressure on rates. Our rates are driven by Tri-State, our power supplier. Typically, if Tri-State has a rate increase, we have a rate increase.îMVEA’s Round Up program has distributed $1.8 million in grants to members and area nonprofit organizations. Members participate by rounding up their monthly electric bill to the nearest dollar. Martin said 61 percent of the members participate. ìIf you are not a part of Round Up, I would like you to seriously consider it,î he said. ìIt’s a wonderful program that helps members in our district.îLong time MVEA Director Allen Gresham retired after serving 45 years on the board. Gresham served the board’s district 3, which represents Elbert and Monument. Gresham’s wife, Beverly, said her family has been involved in MVEA since it was founded. She said she has only missed three of the 72 annual meetings.Jim Herron, association chief executive officer, said the power co-operative was seriously impacted by the Black Forest fire. ìWe had about 1,200 poles that were impacted, which is about 41 miles of line,î Herron said. ìWe also have to inspect trees that are outside our rights of way that have been damaged and may fall into our lines.î It’s estimated that 20,000 trees will have to be inspected over the next months. Herron said three tree-trimming crews are working 12-hour shifts five days per week to help homeowners remove trees that could threaten power lines.The total financial impact from the fire is $11 million; $6 million is direct infrastructure damage and $5 million in debris and tree removal costs, Herron said. ìMost people do not realize this, but with the vast amount of money we have invested in infrastructure, or over $250 million, we do not have any insurance coverage for that,î he said. ìFor poles, wires and transformers out in the field, it’s not that it’s not affordable, it’s not even available.î Herron said he is cautiously optimistic that FEMA money will be available to the utility companies to offset part of the infrastructure damage costs.B.D. ìBudî Paddock was re-elected to the board, representing district 5, which covers Ellicott and southern El Paso County. Paddock was unopposed. In a written ballot election, Errol Hertneky was elected to replace Gresham for district 3.
