Poudre Valley REA Announces Another Rate Decrease

• Board of Directors approved the second decrease in electric rates
• Cumulative rate reductions average 2.8%
• Savings across the membership are estimated at about $3.8 million on an annual basis
• Co-op members will pay less for electricity per kWh than they did in 2013

Poudre Valley REA (PVREA) members can expect to see a cumulative rate decrease of 2.8 percent applied to their March electric bills. PVREA members will soon pay less for their electricity per kWh than they did back in 2013.

PVREA Board Directors approved two separate rate reductions in 2021, an earlier rate reduction approved in April 2021 and this current rate reduction, both average about 1.4 percent each. The cumulative rate decrease of 2.8 percent is shown as a power cost adjustment (PCA) line item on member bills. A PCA allows PVREA to expedite savings for homes and businesses in Northern Colorado as opposed to a lengthy rate change process.

Currently, PVREA has the lowest cooperative residential electric rate in the state of Colorado thanks in part to the previously announced rate decrease. With the addition of another 1.4 percent reduction in rates, PVREA will also have some of the lowest residential electric rates in the state among all types of electric providers including municipalities and investor-owned utilities (IOU).

“Our Board has a strategic focus on safeguarding the affordability of our products and services for the members they represent,” said Jeff Wadsworth, President and CEO, of PVREA. “To that end, our employee team takes great pride in fulfilling that obligation daily. Combined with another rate decrease in our wholesale power costs from our cooperative power supplier, Tri-State, we successfully lowered rates again for our membership.”

The energy mix of PVREA is becoming increasingly green, allowing the cooperative to deliver more clean and affordable power to their members. As PVREA progresses towards reaching its 80 by 30 goal, the cooperative anticipates stable rates and reliable service through a diverse energy portfolio of renewable resources and baseload power.

Reliability Matters Too
PVREA is committed to reliably delivering its products and services to members. While the cooperative has successfully lowered rates, PVREA has also effectively improved reliability metrics that measure outage durations and restoration times.

“We ended 2021 with our best year on record for our reliability measurements, and we’re not stopping there,” Wadsworth said. “Our cooperative is committed to be the partner our members can depend on now and into the future.”

Previous Rate Reduction
Poudre Valley REA Board Directors approved the first recorded rate decrease for all members on April 27, 2021. The 1.4 percent rate reduction equaled an annual cost savings of about $1.8 million across the PVREA membership. The rate reduction took effect in May of that year and resulted in lower bills for most members in June 2021.

At the time, Jeff Wadsworth, PVREA President, and CEO had this to say: “Thanks to our continued focus on affordability, combined with a rate reduction from our cooperative wholesale power provider, Tri-State, we are able to implement this meaningful rate reduction.”

“We know every dollar counts and hope this will be an economic stimulus to the communities we serve,” Wadsworth added. “Our recent rate decrease is an example of how we are continually delivering more to our members, like the families, ranches, businesses, schools, and towns who are the heartbeat of our Northern Colorado communities.”