MONTROSE – The Delta-Montrose Electric Association pulled no punches last week in a news release announcing its decision to resign from the Colorado Rural Electric Association as of April 30.

In the release, DMEA general manager Dan McClendon stated that CREA has “fallen into the unfortunate pattern of opposing most electric industry initiatives that come before the Legislature.”

McClendon said earlier this week that the DMEA board voted to withdraw from CREA because of concerns around budget constraints, and the feeling that the state group is ignoring DMEA’s ideas.

Dues to belong to CREA have grown “significantly” in recent years, he said.

DMEA spokesman Tom Polikalis confirmed that those dues have climbed to $50,000 per year.

But that’s not the only problem, McClendon said.

“Predominantly the other issue is our feeling that our voice becomes muted on issues DMEA feels are important,” he said, and the state group “wasn’t listening to our concerns.”

For example, although CREA supported legislation to have cooperatives supply 10 percent of electric generation by renewable energy, the support was lukewarm, he said.

“The real question is, is there a difference between tolerating, supporting or promoting?” he said. “There are things DMEA would like to promote rather than just tolerate.”

The main function of CREA is to provide lobbying services for the state’s 22 member-owned electric cooperatives, as well as safety training, regulatory compliance and oversight, he said.

The board of CREA is comprised of representatives from the 22 members coops, said Mike Sramek, DMEA’s representative on the board for the past seven months.

But most of those members are from the Front Range and don’t always share the same viewpoints, Sramek said, even though CREA emphasizes that individual coops are locally controlled.

“What I found when I was over there was that my ideas were marginalized,” Sramek said. “It’s not a criticism of them, just a reality. The mountain region coops have different issues, so…we’re taking that local control one step further by bringing it in-house.”

It’s not the first time DMEA has rebelled against an organization of which it is a member. A couple of years ago, DMEA was the sole coop to refuse to sign an extended contract for its supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. Tri-State wanted the extended contract so it could raise money to build more coal-powered generation plants, but DMEA felt that was the wrong direction to go in. Tri-State has since somewhat softened its stance on coal and has come to embrace some of DMEA’s philosophies.

To promote its ideas of encouraging conservation and renewable energy, two years ago the DMEA board hired its own lobbyist and launched an awareness campaign among its members.

Sramek said he really wanted to have an impact and bring those messages to the CREA board meetings in Denver, but felt ignored.

“On probably 90 percent of the issues we agree, but it’s just those 10 percent where we have a different outlook,” he said. “We’ve always said in the past that efficiency is probably the best avenue for our members to keep their costs down. But as simple as that sounds, that was revolutionary.”

Sramek said CREA has slowly come over to seeing that point of view, but that DMEA customers will be better served with their own lobbyist promoting progressive ideas like conservation and renewable energy harnessed through hydroelectric projects and geothermal energy, as well as wind and solar power.

“We don’t want to get into a contest, and the future will decide whether this is a correct decision or not,” he said. “But we feel we know our members and member issues, and by taking direct control of lobbying, we will have a better impact at the state Legislature.”

In his news release, McClendon said while CREA has opposed most electric industry initiatives that come before the Legislature, the state coop has not come up with a clear and aggressive program of its own to offer as a positive alternative.

“As a result, CREA has earned the reputation of being against almost everything,” McClendon stated. “DMEA believes that can and must change, and we look forward to rejoining CREA when it becomes a forward looking organization.”

Kent Singer, executive director for CREA, said he disagrees with McClendon’s assessment.

“I’m disappointed they decided to withdraw,” he said. “We try very hard to represent the interests of all CREA members and think we’ve done a lot of positive things in the areas of efficiencies and renewables…I don’t agree that we’ve opposed all those initiatives, and am hoping they will rejoin CREA as soon as possible.”

Whether that will happen is unknown, but in the meantime DMEA is following up its announcement last fall to build a small hydroelectric plant on South Canal as it leaves the Gunnison Tunnel, a project that could produce enough electricity to supply about 3,000 homes, or about 5 percent of DMEA’s entire system demand.

Preliminary engineering on the hydro plant is complete, he said, and DMEA is teaming up with the Uncompahgre Water Users Association to obtain the necessary federal permits.