No one dislikes power outages more than those of us in the electric utility business. In a world of increasing dependence on quality electric power, the task of keeping the lights on is more critical — and challenging — every day.

Coupled with the dramatic increase in electrification across dozens of industries and businesses, our members’ requirements for reliable supply increases with each passing day. More people working from home, spurred by the pandemic, has only exacerbated the need for greater reliability — and its cousin, resiliency. 

The only business I know that measures as many statistical categories as the electric industry is baseball, where every play is broken down into records dating back decades. Balls, strikes, batting percentages, hits with runners in scoring position — even the number of strikes versus balls — are all analyzed and used to change the game. 

Our “batting averages” in the electric industry are things like SAIDI* (the duration of outages), SAIFI* (frequency of outages), and MAIFI* (momentary average interruption frequency). We measure and report on dozens of indices and make investments to continuously improve. We call balls and strikes on ourselves as we get better. It is also why we keep investing in new technologies, such as our outage management system, and have expanded how we use data from our advanced metering infrastructure and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. We mine the alphabet soup of technologies in the never-ending pursuit to keep the lights on. 

However, even with our efforts, any outage or momentary blip can cause headaches. That is why we work so diligently to manage our system to avoid such incidents.

Why do the lights “go out” unexpectedly? United Power’s leading causes of outages are critters and crashes, followed by weather and equipment failure. Sometimes our transmission providers have incidents. There are also certain times we must take outages to upgrade equipment. Much of our system is underground — a tremendous investment, but one that pays dividends over time. But even undergrounding electrical service does not make the system immune from outages. In fact, underground faults can be more difficult to find and take more time to repair.

Digitalization of our lives has also made the quality of power more challenging. Older lights, motors, and machinery had a wide range of electric tolerance. This was as true in the home as it was in industry. Today’s digitalized equipment means the tolerance of even a temporary dip in power can make a difference. Some additional sensitivity comes from things like new refrigerators which try to match the motor size to load for energy efficiency, but also tolerates less voltage fluctuations. Think back to refrigerators that last 20 years or more versus today.

United Power operates at the distribution level, or the wires that bring electricity directly to homes and businesses. We strive to keep the lights on. In the past, 99.99% of ASAI* (average system “up time”) was sufficient. That meant, on average, just eight minutes of outage time per year, which was acceptable in the past but challenging in today’s digital environment. While 99.99% is good for many things, 99.999% is even better, meaning just eight seconds of outage time. Even that, however, is not fault tolerant enough in some situations. There is a very real limitation to what is possible across a large distribution network serving a significant number of varying electric loads. 

It is therefore important to understand that while we do everything possible to keep the electrons flowing, there are limitations across this broad system. It is why even in our cooperative offices every computer has a backup power supply, and our building has a backup generator.

Winter weather is upon us, and we will work to keep the lights on. This is only possible due to the brave women and men of United Power who work diligently though snow, sleet, and freezing rain to restore power. As always, please feel free to reach out to me with your questions, comments, and concerns.

United Power's Community Support Demonstrates it is "Here for Good"

United Power has undergone significant change over the past year, including its wholesale energy contract exit, as it moved to become an independent electric utility on May 1. The cooperative has announced new power purchase agreements and innovative energy projects to ensure continued reliability and system resiliency, but it has also maintained a close relationship with the diverse communities it serves across the Colorado Front Range.

As a co-op, United Power regularly demonstrates its commitment to communities — one of its core guiding principles — through supporting local fairs and festivals, service organizations, business expansion, educational partnerships, and student opportunities. Sometimes the co-op’s support even extends beyond its own service territory to enrich the lives of disadvantaged communities in other parts of the country. This was another active year for the cooperative in its communities. 

Giving Life to Fairs and Festivals

Local community events bring value to families living in the communities across United Power’s service territory. The cooperative is proud to be an active participant and supporter at many of these events. It continued its long-standing role as presenting sponsor of the Adams County Fair in August, which annually brings out thousands of local residents and visitors and is recognized as one of the largest county fairs in the country. The co-op also provided support for fairs in Southeast Weld and Gilpin Counties, community heritage celebrations like the Tomato Festival & Market at Trapper Days in Fort Lupton and Miners Day in Frederick, and other events that recognize each city or town’s unique and rich history. 

Now that the holiday season has begun and busy main street roads are shining with bright lights and elaborate decorations, cities are preparing for local holiday celebrations. Look for United Power in your community’s local festivities. The cooperative’s famous Rudolph the Red-Nosed Bucket Truck can frequently be found rolling in parades adorned in thousands of colorful lights and decorations. 

“Here for Good” Employee Service Projects

Another vital component of our communities are the nonprofits that provide critical services to local residents. Dozens of organizations are helping meet a variety of needs for cooperative members, including mental health therapy, housing and food security, outdoor recreation, and more. More than 80 United Power employees volunteered for service projects with eight organizations across the cooperative’s service territory in October. 

Some of the projects that employees completed included staining wooden structures for protection from winter weather at Barr Lake State Park and the Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center; painting and updating community areas at Graceful Oaks Youth Ranch; removing old flooring for renovations at the Carbon Valley Help Center; and mud mitigation at Allegiance Ranch. Employees also sorted and organized food for redistribution at Pastor’s Pantry in Coal Creek Canyon, the Fort Lupton Food and Clothing Bank, and Food For Hope in Thornton. 

United Power presented each organization with a $500 donation in addition to the volunteer hours as a thank you for the contributions they make to our communities.

Powering Families of the Navajo Nation

Lineworkers traveled to New Mexico for a week in July and again in October to build electrical infrastructure and provide power to members of the Navajo Nation. The mutual aid initiative, Light Up Navajo, is aimed at providing access to electricity for families living in remote parts of the Navajo Nation for the very first time.

The ambitious, years-long initiative has provided electricity to nearly 8,000 homes, but thousands more still do not have access. United Power provided trucks, equipment, and experienced lineworkers for both projects. Working long hours, and often in extreme heat, they placed poles and strung line to power local homes. 

Supporting Local Youth

Students in our local schools are also the future leaders of our communities. United Power recognizes the importance of supporting local education, and has annually provided thousands of dollars in scholarship awards and leadership training opportunities to outstanding high school students in its service territory. 

The cooperative is also an active partner in the classroom, such as Mead’s Energy Academy. Will Thomas, Energy Systems Specialist, presented on the future of battery storage technology for Energy Academy students in September. Students also later participated in a high voltage safety demonstration and toured one of the co-op’s battery storage facilities. 

United Power also hosted students from 27J’s Career and Technical Education program for a “Day in the Boots” event in October. Students were able to move through stations and learn the day-to-day responsibilities of the cooperative’s operations team. The cooperative also supports career fairs for students of all ages.

Although much of the service territory is becoming suburban, the co-op still serves large agricultural areas. Each year, United Power supports local youth in agriculture through livestock sales at county fairs. 

United Power supports the local community in all these ways and many more, including charity events that benefit nonprofits or educational foundations. It is why we exist, and it is why we will remain...Here for Good.