Debbie Rose

Colorado Rural Electric Assn.

The Colorado Rural Electric Association is the trade association representing Colorado's electric cooperatives. More than 1.25 million Coloradans depend on a cooperative for their electricity. Serving 70 percent of the land in Colorado, cooperatives reach every county but one. While commercial, industrial and agricultural businesses across the state rely on electric co-ops, 85 percent of co-op customers are residential. Colorado's co-ops serve a broad array of communities—from high country ski resorts to irrigated farmland on the eastern plains, from co-ops that serve two customers per mile of line to others that serve 18 customers per mile of line. On average, Colorado's co-ops typically serve 7.8 customers per mile. Compare that to investor-owned utilities that average 35 customers per mile of line and municipal utilities that serve 46 customers per mile of line. Co-ops are unique in that they are not for profit and owned by the members they serve. For more information go to CREA's website at www.crea.coop.