Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

The 80th SEC meeting just ended. As a former District One Trustee, elected three years ago, I want to thank those who voted for me. It’s been an interesting experience. I ran to save Co-op members money. No doubt I rocked the boat. The Co-op board was presented with several options to lower the cost of electric power we purchase from Tri-State. Currently Tri-State charges just under eight cents a kilowatt hour. Today, SEC could self-generate solar, with battery storage locally, for approximately two cents a kilowatt hour. Tri-State recently began allowing electric co-ops to self-generate 40% their electrical load, Proposals from OE Solar and Positive Energy Solar for 20% of self-generation would’ve offset 3.5 million dollars, $1.5 million of which could pay off the solar/battery investment over 20 years, leaving $2 million to keep rate increases to a minimum. I had no support from other board members to access the cost savings of self-generation.

The former board missed the ball in two ways. It ignored researching my solar/battery proposal described above. Plus, SEC had proposals from both NM State and Tech professors for class projects to assess the cost for SEC to install wind, solar, battery generation. The board didn’t respond to either opportunity. No questions. Nope, just moved on to the next agenda item. I took an oath as a board trustee to get the best cost for our co-op membership. Does this sound like the rest of the board really worked for the membership?

There are two other major issues. First, this is the second year with no election. You, the Co-op members, need to run for the board. Second, as board trustee I had very limited ability to communicate with co-op membership. And public comment limited to two minutes is too short for members to be heard.

I want the SEC co-op members to hear this. I’m very excited SEC has a new CEO, Manny Gonzales, who is a breath of fresh air, and hopefully a board to fully support his leadership into renewable self-generation. A board can say, oh inflation, etc., and raise rates to keep this co-op afloat, even with 600 families in serious arrears. It takes a dedicated board to not raise your rates. Please, don’t vote to just move onto the next agenda item. Best of luck, CEO Gonzales.

Ward McCartney

Belen