MPE has submitted its Community Benefits Plan (CBP) for review by the USDA. Once approved and having met the USDA’s implementation requirements, MPE should begin receiving its obligated payments for the $100 million New ERA grant.

MPE executed a letter of commitment with the USDA on January 14, 2025, for the New ERA program, obligating a grant in the amount of $100,321,532 over 20 years. The funding supports MPE’s new power purchase agreement (PPA) with Guzman Energy to enhance the resilience, reliability, and affordability of our rural electric system. After a brief review period, on March 25, the USDA announced it was releasing previously obligated funding under New ERA and other federal programs, like PACE.

An outline of MPE’s CBP was submitted as a part of the initial New ERA grant application. It was referred to by the USDA as a “plan for the plan,” and MPE’s document earned positive feedback. When the announcement was made regarding the release of New ERA funding, MPE
immediately set into action to finalize its required CBP. After nearly a year of coordinating efforts with constituents across MPE’s service territory, Helen Sedlar, MPE Director of Development, was able to lead the efforts to finalize the plan. She also consulted with liaisons at the
USDA. MPE submitted the CBP on May 21 to the USDA. The USDA informed MPE that we are the first of 51 New ERA award recipients to send in its CBP for review.

MPE’s CBP funding will expand existing programs and launch new initiatives that strengthen rural resilience across its service territory. These investments are focused on four key priorities, which correspond with the four priorities set forth in the New ERA program: energy efficiency and affordability; workforce development and housing; food assistance for rural communities; and opportunities for our farming and ranching families and communities.

• Priority 1 supports energy affordability and efficiency and education through rebates, demand-side management programs, and outreach to help income-qualified members reduce energy costs.
• Priority 2 invests in the American workforce by funding paid lineman apprenticeships, expanding training opportunities in energy fields, and supporting workforce housing needs through local partnerships.
• Priority 3 provides direct benefits to rural families through food assistance for homebound seniors, helping improve grocery access in Grand and Jackson Counties.
• Priority 4 expands Ag-focused opportunities for rural youth through paid summer internships, support of 4-H, and scholarships for students from farming and ranching families, fostering local career pathways in technical and Ag-related fields.

Each of MPE’s speakers at the recent 75th Annual Meeting – me, Board President Liz McIntyre, and CFO Eric Jones – highlighted how important and transformational, our co-op’s New ERA grant funding would be moving forward. As Eric put it, this “$100 million grant is historic, especially for a co-op with $120 million in total assets.”

The significance of this funding cannot be understated. That’s why…

1. Our team worked tirelessly to put forth the absolute strongest application we could;
2. I accompanied a contingency from Colorado to go to our nation’s capital to visit with our representatives about the critical nature of this funding after it was frozen; and
3. We recently put in extra hours to submit our Community Benefits Plan (CBP) for review so we could, once our plan is approved, begin to receive this funding.

As our cover story indicated, we have completed and submitted our CBP to the USDA for their review. I want to share a few more “behind the scenes” details about this milestone.

Our contacts at the USDA, who we greatly appreciate, have informed us that MPE is the first in the country of more than 50 New ERA awardees to complete and submit its CBP. Again, this is an illustration of how diligently we are working to bring this funding to our co-op as soon as possible. It is also another testament to our small but mighty staff and their efforts.

Those at the USDA even asked us how we were not only able to craft what they said is a well-developed CBP, but also implement so many of the goals so quickly. Our Director of Development, Helen Sedlar, explained that MPE has a history of community engagement. As a cornerstone of our communities throughout Grand and Jackson counties and beyond, MPE has long given back to areas that are highlighted as priorities in the New ERA program, as listed in the story on page 1. As part of our commitment to the CBP, MPE is providing funding of $1 million over 10 years, or at least $100,000 annually, in order to expand our community investments.

Helen, who herself has a long history of community involvement through her non-profit work in our area, also deserves much of the credit for our expedited CBP timeline. She worked with the Grand County Health & Human Resources Coalition (HHRC) to bring that group of more than 35 area leaders on board as the CBP steering committee. She and the HHRC know the area’s needs and available resources, thus the alignment of giving opportunities to the New ERA priorities was relatively seamless.

Again, after learning of MPE’s New ERA application was approved, our main priority was to do all we could to start receiving the funds as soon as possible. It will result in around $5 million to MPE annually. Exactly how these added funds will be utilized is yet to be determined. Setting strategy is one of the most important roles of our board of directors. Each of our board members takes this responsibility very seriously. I anticipate the board will look each year to balance the current needs (i.e., rate stabilization) with the needs of the future. Those might include investments in our system, generation resources, and so on to set up our co-op for success over the next 75 years. I expect that at the 150th
Annual Meeting in the year 2100, those on stage will again speak of how transformative these funds were for MPE.