Why should we care about what’s going on at the Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative? The juice stays on, they are nice, and the rates are OK.
Trustees receive a small but not insignificant financial reward, but nobody’s getting rich, at least from these reimbursements.
But a select subgroup of Trustees, a “Gang of Five” if you will (you know who) have acted against the bylaws, becoming extremely bold with the non-quorum quorum that they recently claimed in order to instate more like-minded individuals onto the board.
To whom are they accountable? Clearly not us. The obvious place to look, and the reason that we should care, are the same: Tri State Generation and Transmission, our supplier of electricity.
As with all coal companies, Tri State is stressed. With billions in debt for coal-fired power plants, Tri State now charges us up to four times the going wholesale electric rate.
Surely Tri State is getting nervous as their customers, other co-ops like us, eye the exit sign. It is not a matter of if but of when Tri State fails, the result of selling an uncompetitive product.
Reasons to care? By nurturing a long-term relationship with Tri State, the Gang Of Five risk leaving Jemez Co-op members holding the bag when it fails. They’re shutting off a future of lower electricity prices that are now the reality elsewhere. They also deny the major trend of the electric industry, the movement toward clean, environmentally benign, energy sources.
The Gang Of Five are actively trying to hurt you and me and our descendants.
Chuck Wright
Dixon