La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) released its 2024 Annual Report, highlighting a year of operational excellence, local energy investments, financial stability, and major steps toward an affordable, reliable, and cleaner energy future.  

“Our focus remains on delivering safe, reliable, and affordable power to our members while preparing our communities for the energy future,” said LPEA CEO Chris Hansen. “The results highlighted in the 2024 Annual Report reflect the dedication of our team, the strategic direction of our board, and the strength of our cooperative business model.”  

LPEA experienced zero lost-time incidents or accidents in 2024, meeting its top safety goal. The co-op also received the Diamond Level Safety Award from the American Public Power Association (APPA), the organization’s highest safety honor.  

LPEA members experienced just 38 major outages, the lowest total since 2018. This equates to 0.9 outages per member, significantly below the national average of 1.4. When outages did occur, they were shorter than the national average, lasting an average of 82.94 minutes compared to the national average of 335.5 minutes and Colorado’s average of 150 minutes.  

In March 2024, the LPEA Board of Directors voted to submit an unconditional notice of withdrawal from its long-time wholesale power provider, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, enabling LPEA to source power independently and build a more flexible, local, and sustainable energy portfolio.  

To support this transition, LPEA hosted member focus groups in October to gather community input on values and priorities for future power supply.