Mountain Parks Electric executes Letter of Commitment for more than $100 million in New ERA grant funding
Mountain Parks Electric, Inc. (MPE) executed a letter of commitment with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Services on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, for the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program obligating a grant award in the amount of $100,321,532 over the next 20 years.
This milestone came after MPE staff devoted significant time and resources to secure this funding that will support a reliable, affordable, and resilient power supply future.
For MPE, the New ERA investment will help to procure more than 300,000 megawatt hours of dependable, affordable energy through power purchase agreements in rural areas of Colorado. It presents a significant opportunity for the cooperative to maintain sustainable rates while effectively managing expenses to ensure long-term operations and reliability.
The New ERA funding requires an impactful Community Benefit Plan (CBP). MPE was notified on Jan. 29 by the USDA that the CBP plan MPE submitted had been approved. It included advancing and promoting scholarships and apprenticeship programs, expanding support of attainable housing and services for lower-income households, and stabilizing costs to rural cooperative members.
“MPE is eager to support innovative energy solutions for our rural communities,” said MPE General Manager Virginia Harman. “We deeply appreciate this ‘once in a lifetime’ funding opportunity and I am honored to be part of the team that will bring these benefits back to our membership.”
Over the past several years, electric cooperatives like MPE have faced rising energy costs driven by inflation, supply chain disruptions, aging infrastructure, and other regulatory challenges. The USDA’s New ERA program offers an essential solution to address these challenges.
The electric cooperative sector is currently in the process of finalizing underwriting for $9.7 billion investment in the New ERA program. This program will advance bread-and-butter infrastructure that will keep America’s electric sector strong, resilient, reliable and sustainable.
Some aspects of the IRA may be subject to spending cuts under the new federal administration. However, it is important to note that the USDA’s New ERA program is a continuation of a nearly 100-year-old financing partnership between the Rural Utility Service and its predecessors. This program remains critical for advancing both reliability and affordability of America’s energy supply, ensuring that rural communities are not left behind as electricity demand grows with the fast pace of economic development. The team at MPE is focused on retaining this obligated funding for the benefit of our rural communities.
ABOUT Mountain Parks Electric, Inc.: MPE is a member-owned, not-for-profit 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 across approximately 4,000 square miles of Rocky Mountain terrain, including all of Grand and Jackson counties, as well as parts of Larimer, Routt and Summit counties.