LPEA RAMPS UP MISINFORMATION
You may have seen an email or a press release from Chris Hansen-CEO of LPEA- stating the new agreement with Mercuria will “cost more than 10% lower than our previous provider.” Sounds great!!
Here’s the cold hard truth: your bill will not go down a single penny.
This sneaky wordsmithing relies on the assumption that LPEA members are not educated on what is happening in the cooperative and how buying wholesale power works. And who can blame them, with the lack of transparency in the current regime, it is next to impossible to know what the hell they’re doing with OUR money.
Lowering the cost of wholesale power (which will still include a substantial portion from Tri-State) by 10% would equate to much less than 1¢/kwh. So, if we are paying 6.4¢/kwh (example) and the new cost is 10% lower, the new cost will be 5.8¢/kwh.
But that’s not what you and I pay on our monthly bills, we pay closer to 13¢/kwh. The remainder of what we pay as members goes to expenses at the LPEA, including the CEO’s exorbitant salary-$750k/year.
Internal and administrative costs (executive salaries etc.) at LPEA have skyrocketed, since 2020 we are looking at a 15-18% increase- That’s over $7 million! This rate of increase far outpaces inflation, all the while the cost of our wholesale power has remained flat.
These numbers are disturbing to say the least, especially with the dire financial circumstances so many of our members face. What’s more- the cooperative is charged with being responsible stewards of our funds, but I guess we have to pay for the CEOs rental home somehow.
Also, since we will no longer be members of Tri-State, we will now need to pay to use the transmission lines in the area. That’s right! Any so-called savings we will get are likely to be eaten up by new incurred costs.
But besides all of this- are we to take these statements as to mean that we will see lower monthly bills? John Witchel recent sent out an email saying “We secured a 10% reduction in power costs starting April 2026. That means lower bills…savings for everyone.”
All of this comes out directly after the board passed the LARGEST RATE INCREASE IN LPEA HISTORY!! So, is it 10% cheaper than now? 10% cheaper than before the rate increase? 10% cheaper than some fairytale rate in the future?
This is a blatant blurring of the truth, meant to help progressive candidates as we enter the current election cycle. Obviously Witchel doesn’t care about your power bill, he’s a multi-multi-millionaire looking to profit off of this expensive and foolish buyout blunder.
The bottom line- if this new power purchase agreement is going to save us money, then why do they keep raising rates? If it’s cheaper, why are we paying more??
Time for accountability…
“If he’s such a good hitter, why doesn’t he hit good?” – Billy Beane in Moneyball