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Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association, Inc. is an electric distribution cooperative owned by the members that it serves. The cooperative was founded in 1939 to provide reliable electricity to rural residents of Northern Colorado. Today Valley REA covers 5,760 square miles of service territory in Larimer, Weld, and Boulder counties and over 3600 miles of overhead, underground and transmission line combine, serving approximately 35,000 consumers. All power distributed over the co-op's 6,000 miles of electric lines and sub-stations is provided by its generation and transmission partners, Tri-state G&T, Basin Electric and Western Area Power Administration.

Location
Poudre Valley REA is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado. Telephone: 970.226.1234. Address: 7649 REA Pkwy, Ft. Collins, CO 80528.

History
Until 1935, much of rural America survived without electricity. It was in that year that President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order establishing the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). The U.S. Congress, in 1936, enacted the Rural Electrification Act promoting the establishment of member-owned cooperatives as the means by which service could be provided in rural areas. Farmers, ranchers, and others living in these areas banded together all across the country to bring the convenience of electricity to their lives. It was the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 which enabled Poudre Valley REA, along with 22 other REA’s in Colorado, to begin.

Poudre Valley REA was the subject of discussion with farmers living in Larimer and Weld Counties back in 1939. After several informal meetings had been held, two larger meetings of potential members were organized. At these meetings the project was tentatively approved, and between May 11 and September 11, 1939, over 600 interested parties paid $5 apiece for membership to Poudre Valley REA. The Articles of Incorporation were signed by 11 incorporators on October 7, 1939, and the first formal meeting of the co-op was held November 2, 1939. An office was established in the town of Severance, Colorado. A loan application was filed with the REA in Washington, D.C. and the approved loan allowed Poudre Valley to construct 229 miles of line to serve 560 families in Larimer and Weld counties. The first stake was driven on the Carl Bokelman farm 2 miles south of Kelim, Colorado. By September of 1940, these first few miles of line were energized.

Most of the farms and ranches east of the foothills were being served in the 1940s. The majority of electric lines serving Rist Canyon, Poudre Canyon, and the Red Feather lakes area were completed by the late 1950s. Through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s Poudre Valley REA had steady growth, with Kodak leading the way as the largest consumer at 25 Megawatts. From 2000 to the present Poudre Valley REA has had tremendous growth in residential, commercial and industrial consumers including Owens Illinois bottling plant and a new factory for wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas.

Organization
Electric cooperatives are owned by the people who receive the service. These member/owners, through the democratic process of “1 member, 1 vote,” conduct an annual meeting to elect their board of directors. The board in turn sets policies and hires a manager to implement these policies. Co-ops operate on a not-for-profit basis and all excess revenues are returned to the member-consumers in the form of Capital Credits.

Brad Gaskill became the Assistant General Manager at Poudre Valley REA on April 1, 2007. On June 4, 2007, Mr. Gaskill assumed the role of General Manager from the association’s longtime GM Ron Carey. Mr. Carey served as Poudre Valley REA’s General Manager for 25 years. The management team today includes: Myles Jensen, Member Services Manager; Mike Johnson, Financial and Information Services Manager; Tim Stanton, Operations Manager; Jim Byrne, Engineering Manager; Duane Ziller, HR and Safety Manager.

Industry Associations
Poudre Valley REA is a partner in the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, an association of more than 900 electric cooperatives nationwide. PVREA is also a member of the National Rural Electric Asociation and the Colorado Rural Electric Association.