Our Mission: Mountain Parks Electric delivers safe, reliable, cost-effective, sustainable energy and services to better the lives of our members and communities.

Our Vision: To be the energy provider of choice and to support the communities we serve while realizing the full potential of the grid.

Mountain Parks Electric, Inc.  (MPE) is a non-profit, member-owned electric utility cooperative. Established in 1946 in Walden, Colorado, MPE has been headquartered in Granby since 1953 with a service center in Walden. MPE serves approximately 18,000 members through more than 22,000 meters at an average of 12 meters per mile. MPE has a 25 kV electrical distribution that spans nearly 1,900 miles, including 550 miles of underground distribution, more than 1,300 miles of overhead distribution, and 22 miles of transmission lines. MPE serves approximately 4,000 square miles, including all of Grand and Jackson counties, as well as parts of Larimer, Routt and Summit counties.

In the 1940s, North Park residents – north of Kremmling and along Highway 40 – grew tired of living without the benefits of electricity. Convinced there was no profitability in providing rural people with electricity,investor-owned power companies (IOUs) were unwilling to invest the capital needed to extend power lines into the rural United States.

Undeterred by IOU rejection, Jackson County residents established North Park Rural Electric Association (NPREA), a consumer-owned electric cooperative, on October 16, 1946. With the help of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA, also known as Rural Utilities Service), NPREA obtained federal loans to construct power lines, bringing electricity to North Central Colorado. Area residents' lives were changed forever (see Electricity: Before &  After)

NPREA’s first power lines were energized in 1950. Between 1953 and 1959, NPREA purchased several area power companies including Granby's Mountain Utilities Corporation and municipals in Grand Lake and Kremmling. When the headquarters moved from Walden to Granby (in 1953), NPREA changed its name to Mountain Parks Electric (MPE), reflecting its main service territory: North Park and Middle Park. At that time, MPE employed an 11-person line crew and an office staff of seven to service 3,860 meters.

To help power the 21st century, MPE – your Touchstone Energy® (link is external) cooperative – is committed to providing large and small customers with state-of-the-art technology and personalized service at affordable rates. We've built a reputation of integrity, accountability, innovation and community commitment and join together with over 700 other national cooperatives under the Touchstone Energy® partnership to maintain high standards of service and cooperative principles.

If you need to speak with a member of our staff, please call (970) 887-3378.

  • VIRGINIA HARMAN
    General Manager

  • LEAH MCCLAIN
    Assistant Manager of Operations

  • EMILY MEEK
    Manager of Finance & Accounting

  • JOE PALMER
    Manager of Information Technologies

  • ADAM PAULSON
    Manager of Operations & Engineering​​​​

  • CRAIG STEGNER
    Assistant Engineering Manager

  • AARON STREET
    Manager of Communications & Member Relations

  • ANGIE WALLACE
    Manager of Human Resources

For most of us, it's a foreign concept: imaging life without electricity. Some people still remember those days 70-plus years ago and are grateful for what many of us take for granted. Edna Ruske wrote about it in the following letter to MPE, dated November 9, 1956:

There was a time when I cleaned and filled kerosene lamps each day; when I carried water from the stream up the steep little hillside to the house; when I heated water on a wood stove and washed over a board - and laboriously tended the heavy irons in the same manner. When I placed perishables in a little wire cage outside a north window and hung my meat in the garage - striving (vainly at times) to keep things from freezing too hard or from spoiling in the heat. When, in my craft work, I sewed and polished by hand - when I slept under a pile of heavy quilts and blankets, on those 50-degree below nights which left me as weary each morning as I had been when I went to bed.

For the brilliant light which comes at the touch of my finger - for the water which flows at my command (hot or cold), for all the wonder-working appliances which ease my day, for the soft, light blanket which keeps me toasty, warm in any temperature - for these- and oh so many things I THANK YOU! Not only this time of year, but every day of the every year - I say it gratefully and I remember 'the good old days' when there was no electricity to lighten and brighten my world.

Today, MPE focuses on providing:

Once the centerpiece of MPE's winter power restoration fleet, on special occasions, we still fire up our 1956 Tucker Sno-Cat.

MPE INFO & STATS

In 1946 in Walden, Colorado.

All of Grand and Jackson Counties & parts of Larimer, Routt and Summit Counties. Approximately 4,000 square miles.

MPE's power supplier is Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, headquartered in Westminster, Colorado. MPE's generation portfolio will be 50% renewable by 2024. 33% in 2020. Learn More.

Our commercial-scale local renewable generation includes: 

  • Granby Dam Hydro (5 million kWh/year - enough to power ~600 homes
  • 1 MW Tom Sifers Solar (Fraser) - enough to power ~300 homes
  • 1 MW Whiskey Hill Solar (Walden) - enough to power ~300 homes
  • More than 250 local net-metered projects: generating ~3.5 million kWh/year

Since 2011, MPE has rebated more than $300,000 to local renewable projects through its Green Power Program. 

Since 1999, through its Operation Round Up program, MPE has disbursed > $1 million to locals in need. MPE is committed to the communities it serves. Learn more.

MPE has participated in pilot programs focused on increasing our consumer-members' efficiency and lowering power costs. Learn more.

OUR STRATEGIC PLAN

The board of directors and management of Mountain Parks Electric, Inc. (Mountain Parks or cooperative) met at the cooperative’s headquarters in Granby, Colorado on January 20-21, 2020 to think strategically about the cooperative’s future.  The session was facilitated by CFC’s Russell Green and Chip Marks. The goals of the session were to achieve consensus on the strategic goals Mountain Parks will focus on during the next three years and develop an implementation plan for the strategic goals. 

Prior to the planning session, participants completed a survey that asked each to identify: 1) the strategic issues they would like to discuss; and 2) the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats currently impacting the cooperative.

The key elements of the session included:

  • Industry update
  • Mission statement review
  • SWOT exercise
  • Review and discuss the strategic issues identified in the survey results
  • Develop the strategic goals that Mountain Parks will focus on over the next three years
  • Timeline and action plan development for board review and approval

Following completion of the planning session, the planning group achieved consensus on the following strategic goals. The goals (un-prioritized) include the following:

  1. Maintain financial strength
  2. Member-focused
  3. Maintain safe and reliable service
  4. Investigate and implement power supply options that best serve our members
  5. Be the employer of choice
  6. Be a top-performing board

GOAL 1: MAINTAIN FINANCIAL STRENGTH

  • Objective 1: Simplify rate structures using technology
  • Objective 2: Explore new business opportunities
  • Objective 3: Maintain an equity level adequate to accomplish objectives
  • Objective 4: Pursue cost controls and efficiencies, embracing the effective use of technologies

GOAL 2: MEMBER FOCUSED

  • Objective 1: Establish two-way communications with members
  • Objective 2: Develop a multi-channel member engagement plan
  • Objective 3: Establish a matrix by which to measure member satisfaction
  • Objective 4; Proactively provide products & services to meet member needs

GOAL 3: MAINTAIN SAFE & RELIABLE SERVICE

  • Objective 1: Meet or exceed five-year average on SAIDI
  • Objective 2: Develop a wildfire plan
  • Objective 3: Evaluate electrical system improvements
  • Objective 4: Use technology to address reliability & load control
  • Objective 5: Zero contacts
  • Objective 6: Review & update cyber-security plan

GOAL 4: BE THE EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

  • Objective 1: Be ranked the best place to work in the MPEI service territory
  • Objective 2: Provide a safe work environment
  • Objective 3: Invest in well-trained, high-performing employees
  • Objective 4: Review real estate holdings

GOAL 5: INVESTIGATE & IMPLEMENT POWER SUPPLY OPTIONS THAT BEST SERVE OUR MEMBERS

  • Objective 1: Assure MPEI meets regulatory requirements
  • Objective 2: Consider cost-effective generation resources, including renewable energy & storage

GOAL 6: BE A TOP-PERFORMING BOARD

  • Objective 1: Review the risks & responsibilities of the board
  • Objective 2: Review the board training process, including new board orientation
  • Objective 3: Reporting process on meetings attended
  • Objective 4: Critical review of board functions

OUR MISSION

Mountain Parks Electric delivers reliable, safe, cost-effective, sustainable energy and services to better the lives of our members and communities. 

OUR VISION

To be the energy provider of choice and to support the communities we serve while realizing the full potential of the grid.