HomeMy WebLinkAbout20030482.tiff INIT- p UNITED POWFINC
POWERP.O. Box 929, Brighton, CO 80601 • Telephone: 303-659-0551 • 1-800-468-8809
Fax: 303-659-2172 I„ //wmnciprpower.com
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February 10, 2003
Mr. Bill Jerke
Weld County Commissioner
915 10th Street
Greeley, CO 80632
Dear Mr. Jerke:
United Power truly values our relationship with your county so we wanted to inform you of a
rate adjustment, which will appear on all statements received after March 11, 2003. Customers
throughout our territory will see increases primarily driven by a 7 percent wholesale power
increase by our power provider. The wholesale increase went into effect on January 1st, but we
made a decision to delay the increase until a "shoulder" month when electric usage is
traditionally lower. We hope that this delay will help to lessen the initial impact of the increase
on customers. The average residential customer in your city will see an increase of between $6 -
$9 each month.
United Power has worked hard to hold the line on costs we can control, but nearly two-thirds of
all our costs are directly tied to the cost of purchased power. Last year we added over 3,500 new
customers, without a corresponding increase in manpower. This is one of the many ways we've
been trying to reduce our controllable costs. We've discontinued all of the builder "incentives"
to extend lines, so those responsible for the newest growth are truly "paying their way". We've
added an enhanced computer system to monitor our lines and substations, to help us maintain our
current high level of service. Not only were our reliability numbers better than other utilities in
the front range last year, we continue to tie a portion of our employee's pay to achieving those
results.
While our power supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, continues to respond to
volatile electric market conditions, we are taking a very proactive stance on our rate structure.
As our territory shifts from an agriculture based load to a residential load with lots of air
conditioning, we're buying power at the time of day when most customers are putting a lot of
pressure on power plants. Consequently, the premiums we pay for this power use profile is
driving up our rates. With the implementation of a new SCADA system at United, we will
enhance our load management program to help us reduce our peak usage, which should help trim
our wholesale power costs. Additionally, we're actively installing automated meters, so we can
reduce the cost of meter reading. Barring severe drought or other catastrophic events, both Tri-
State and United Power envision rate stability in the foreseeable future.
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Your Touchstone Energy® Partner 4r-.-.. :
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2003-0482
Mr. Bill Jerke
Page 2
February 10, 2003
While rate increases are never easy to announce, we feel confident that we have made significant
efforts to both trim costs today, and plan for future increases tomorrow. As always we are
available to discuss any specific concerns you might have regarding these changes. Please
contact Dick Bussing, Troy Whitmore or myself at 303-659-0551.
Sincerely,
UNITED POWER, INC.
Robert D. Broderick
Chief Executive Officer
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