Environment January 28, 2021 9:38:36 pm

United Power sues state public utilities commission in ongoing effort to leave Tri-State

By Dan Mika

BRIGHTON — United Power Inc. has filed suit against the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in the newest salvo in its ongoing battle to break its power-supply agreement with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc.

In a complaint filed in Denver County District Court, the Brighton-based United claims that the PUC’s dismissal of its complaint last fall and the denial of an appeal over its ongoing effort to leave the power wholesaler amounted to an abdication of its responsibility as a state regulator.

The PUC in the past has said that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has jurisdiction over Tri-State because it includes non-electric cooperative groups in its membership.

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The suit is the newest front in United’s long and bitter efforts to exit from Tri-State before its contract ends in 2050. United has asked repeatedly for a buyout quote from its contract with Tri-State so it can source more of its power independently and from renewable sources at a faster rate than what Tri-State plans.

The co-op claims in the suit that without the PUC’s intervention, Tri-State would quote an exit fee ranging north of $3 billion and far beyond what United believes would be a fair charge.

United has claimed for months and in multiple lawsuits that Tri-State misled it about the reasoning behind allowing non-electric cooperative groups to join the power wholesaler as part of a scheme to use legal and bureaucratic roadblocks to delay giving United an exit fee quote, a process it calls “jurisdictional gamesmanship.”

The suit is asking the court to order the PUC to appear in a proceeding to explain its decisions and to eventually declare that the regulator erred in its dismissals.

United is Tri-State’s largest customer by revenue. It covers all of Brighton and several smaller towns in Weld County, such as Erie, Frederick, Firestone, Fort Lupton and Keenesburg. It also provides power to parts of northeast Thornton, Broomfield and Lafayette.

In an emailed statement, Tri-State said it plans to intervene in the lawsuit.

“The Colorado Public Utilities Commission acted appropriately to dismiss United Power’s complaint, recognizing that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asserted exclusive jurisdiction and is the appropriate regulator to consider these issues,” the company said.

The PUC did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.