MARK WAITE / PVT An unhappy Tom Story addresses VEA officials about his high power bill in January. Advertisement

Valley Electric Association is considering a contract to purchase electricity from a coal-fired power plant in Utah, which could provide stable, wholesale, power costs for the next 35 years, VEA Chief Executive Officer Tom Husted said Monday night.

About 110 Valley Electric Association members packed the Bob Ruud Community Center to vote for the District 1 director, but board member Bob Hartman said the cooperative still lacked a quorum as 305 members were needed, or 2 percent of the total membership in that district.

Another 36 members voted by proxy. But it wasn't a wasted trip as those who showed up heard an annual report on VEA activities, and a few voiced concerns over the power rates.

In the absence of a quorum, Hartman said VEA board members will nominate a director to District 1. Brent Crowther has been serving in that position, representing Pahrump and Sandy Valley, but his two-year term is expiring. An election will be held in Beatty tonight for a District 3 director.

"Rate stability is the number one goal for us right now," Husted told the crowd.

The cooperative had increased energy sales of over 12 percent last year, while revenues increased 28 percent, Husted said. The rate increase and the growth led to that increase in revenue, he said.

The cooperative invested $3 million, over 10 percent of its budget, in acquiring wholesale power, Husted said.

"We invested over $7 million in improvements to the distribution system," Husted said.

Valley Electric was able to return $1.5 million in credits on the December bills; they averaged $50 per customer, he said.

Husted said VEA settled its lawsuit with power giant Enron Corp. The cooperative is also building strategic alliances with organizations like Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, with 48 members, and the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative that Husted said will allow the cooperative some synergy on energy projects.

"Two of the things I'm most proud of in the last year and the first is the formation of our grassroots ambassador program," Husted said, who took over as Valley Electric CEO 16 months ago. "The next thing is the dedication and professional growth of our employees."

Husted said there are 180 to 190 ambassadors, many of whom wore their VEA ambassador sport shirts at Mondays meeting.

While Husted conducted an upbeat presentation about future projects, a few customers had gripes about the rates.

Jim Petell asked when the power cost adjustment would go away. Husted said the PCA was enacted to pay for higher wholesale power costs as a separate billing item, rather than to increase the general rates.

"Will it go away? That we don't know. It's a changing market, it's a changing world. One of the things we wrestle with daily is the lack of a national energy policy," Husted said.

The cooperative could just remove the adjustment and incorporate it into the overall rates, which may increase, he said.

Tom Story wanted to know why his power bill rose from $100 per month to $220 in January without using more electricity. Story said he lives in a 14-by-60-foot trailer.

Husted said his own power bill rose to $400 last month, enough of an increase to cause the cooperative to flag his account, which it does for accounts that have a sharp increase.

"January was one of the coldest Januarys we had on record for a long, long time," Husted said. "We don't quite have the energy component in homes that you do farther north."

Things like more insulation and double-pane windows are among energy-saving devices that could be explored, Husted said.

The power outage Jan. 13, during a hard cold snap, illustrated the need for a backup power source, Husted said. That will be available from the north once a pair of projects are completed.

A 138-kilovolt power line is currently being extended west of Terrible's Lakeside Casino on Thousandaire Boulevard to the Charleston Park substation. It will eventually hook up with the Vista substation on north Leslie Road and Highway 160 at the north end of Pahrump Valley. A second project will extend a 230-kV line across the mountains to the Nevada Power grid north of Las Vegas.

"This next line coming in from the north will give us another feed and that will continue to allow us to meet the growth of this area for many, many years," Husted said.

VEA member Phil Raneri urged the cooperative to focus more on alternative energy like wind and solar power, so the cooperative could produce its own power instead of looking for new places to buy it. He also encouraged VEA to work with builders and developers on energy-saving construction.

Husted said the VEA ambassadors will be asked to help educate the public on energy conservation. But he said it's expensive for a cooperative the size of Valley Electric to build big alternative energy facilities. Instead the cooperative is focusing more on small, home-based devices, like a pilot program to install solar-powered water heaters.

"Just one wind turbine is going to cost you $1.5 million and with wind you need backup," Husted said. "Thirty-five percent of the time you're going to need backup."

The Cooperative Research Network is conducting a $35,000 study of the energy costs of different devices, which Husted said will be available next year.

The problem with the recent vandalism also came up, which was responsible for the power outage Jan. 13. Valley Electric has also been subjected to the theft of copper.

"To date we've got over $150,000 in added expenses due to vandalism. That doesn't include the cost to you of being out of power," Husted said.