Wednesday | December 20, 2023
Historic MPE linemen photo Hero Image

Quick Facts

  • Established in 1946 in Walden, Colorado
  • Service territory: all of Grand and Jackson Counties and parts of Larimer, Routt and Summit Counties (about 4,000 square miles)
  • Power supplier: Tri-State G&T (Westminster, Colo.)
  • Local Renewable Projects:
    • Granby Dam Hydro
    • 1 MW Tom Sifers Solar (Fraser)
    • 1 MW Whiskey Hill Solar (Walden)
  • Since 2011, MPE has rebated more than $332,000 to local renewable projects through its Clean Power Program
  • Since 1999, through Operation Round Up, MPE has disbursed more than $1 million to locals in need 
  • MPE provides up to $125,000 a year in scholarships from the Unclaimed Capital Credits Fund to local students pursuing college/vocational education
  • MPE supports the communities it serves

Our History

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 and after below).

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.

Electricity: Before & After

We must never forget the impact providing power to this region has had on people like Edna Ruske, who wrote 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:

To help power the 21st century, MPE – your Touchstone Energy® 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.