United Power promotes Aust to exec role

BRIGHTON — Jonathan Aust has been promoted to senior vice president and chief energy officer at United Power.

Aust, who joined the member-owned electric cooperative earlier this year as its vice president for energy resource planning, will replace Dean Hubbuck, who is retiring in August.

“We are fortunate to have someone with the professional background and high level of expertise that Jonathan brings to this position,” Mark A. Gabriel, president and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “His more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry has already been an asset to the cooperative while working with our power-supply team the past few months, learning the details of United Power’s many power purchase agreements.”

Prior to joining United Power, Aust was vice president for power operations for the Western Area Power Administration. In that role, he led a team of more than 80 employees to support power operations responsible for covering a seven-state region and two balancing authorities, delivering power to energy providers across the footprint. Before his WAPA work he served as vice president for information technology for SCADA/EMS, or supervisory control and data acquisition and energy management system, supporting WAPA’s control centers across a 15-state area.

Aust has served in leadership for a variety of key industry committees, including several representing the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. He was honored in 2022 with that council’s Outstanding Contributor Award.

“As we expand our many power contracts and continue to diversify our resources, we need a leader like Jon in this key role,” Gabriel said. “His ability to lead a team, coupled with his extensive knowledge of the industry, will help continue to build a new portfolio of power that reflects the cooperative’s focus on diverse power sources and integration of local generation.”

United Power delivers electricity to homes, farms and businesses throughout Colorado’s northern Front Range, serving more than 115,000 meters. Its 900-square mile service territory extends from the mountains of Coal Creek and Golden Gate canyons along the I-25 corridor and Carbon Valley region to the farmlands of Brighton, Hudson and Keenesburg.

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