After 28 years of service with San Isabel Electric Association, Anthony Ortega — Line Foreman for the Trinidad linecrew — retired in August. The Trinidad linecrew has long been the closest of San Isabel Electric’s three line teams; coworkers credit Ortega for...

San Isabel Electric is a not-for-profit cooperative electric utility, meaning we operate at cost. We allocate any excess money that wasn’t used for running the business or investing for the future back to you. We call that unused money “capital credit.” We track how...

By Trevor Vigil Brad Atchison and Nicole Copel have been San Isabel Electric Association member-owners for 20 years, but it was not until a year ago that they felt like members. After seeing San Isabel Electric’s electrification of the La Veta Public Library — where...

I am going to get straight to the point: The energy gap is real and it’s not going to close by itself. Colorado’s declared target of reaching 100% clean energy generation by 2040 is a lofty goal. But what is the cost and reality of achieving it? What are the...

The largest maintenance costs for San Isabel Electric Association are related to the weather and vegetation.  Vegetation management is the largest controllable maintenance cost. Given that about one third of SIEA’s territory is considered forested, managing this...

Mobile substations might sound and look like science fiction, but they are ingenious machines that serve as priceless assets to electric utilities. While we hope to never use them, they can really save the day in an emergency. A fixed substation manages and directs...

Many large utilities are under scrutiny for de-energizing lines during high fire danger periods — typically during stage three fire restrictions or red flag days. These periods span almost the entire spring through fall season in southern Colorado. San Isabel Electric...

Pueblo County 4-H and FFA members are preparing their animals for the agriculture industry’s Super Bowl, the annual Showcase Sale. Many of these kids have raised their animals since birth, feeding them, grooming them, providing medicine to keep them healthy, in near...

This July, two more SIEA employees will be walking through the door to retirement: Royce Anderson and Eddie Smith. Anderson is our Safety and Compliance Manager, and Smith is our Assistant Line  Superintendent. Their jobs, accomplishments, and personalities are quite...

Royce Anderson, San Isabel Electric’s Safety and Compliance Manager, is retiring this July after nine and a half years of dedicated service to the co-op. His career has significantly and positively impacted the  company's members by reducing outages, maintaining low...