2021 Annual Report: Celebrating 85 Years of Service

since 1936
ANNUAL
REPORT
©NRECA

CONTENTS
2020 Highlights
Formed 85 years ago, Grand Valley Power was
the first rural electric cooperative in Colorado, and one of
the first west of the Mississippi River. Any business that
has been around that long must inevitably face all kinds
of challenges and obstacles. To survive and thrive, the
people of Grand Valley Power – employees, leaders and
members – have demonstrated a special kind of staying
power. Born of a faithful adherence to core values like
safety, service and community, this staying power enabled
Grand Valley Power to get past the credit crunch
of the seventies, overcome the bankruptcy of a wholesale
power provider, and send poaching investor-owned
utilities back to their own territories. The legacy of our
forebearers provides a blueprint for dealing with threats
like these.
It seems like our staying power has been put to
the test with a decade’s worth of challenges since our
last annual report and member meeting. The coronavirus
peaked last fall. Focusing first on the safety of our
team members, we adapted as necessary and kept right
on delivering Five-Star customer service to our consumers.
Recognizing that our consumers could be in a pinch
financially, we rolled out Grand Valley Power’s Hometown
Relief Fund to assist folks adversely impacted by
the pandemic. It was paramount to continue providing
safe, reliable and affordable energy while keeping our
employees and community healthy.
A Message To Grand valley power members
From Tom Walch and Carolyn Sandeen-Hall
In August of last year, the Pine Gulch Fire – at
the time, the largest wildfire in Colorado history – made
its presence felt. A few consumers had to deal with
weeks-long power outages, as authorities required that
their lines be de-energized. A significant number of GVP
structures were at risk, but thanks to the efforts of the
fire response team, the damage was contained.
In recent months, when an extreme winter storm
event blasted the central United States, Grand Valley
Power and its consumers were hit with the largest
monthly power cost price spike in our 85-year history.
Our investigation, analysis and cost recovery efforts are
underway. Fortunately, our strong financial position allows
us to assist our consumers by spreading the cost
impact over the ensuing 12-month period.
Learn more about the impact of these challenges
– and the programs implemented to address them – in
the pictures, charts and notes on the following pages of
this report.
With an 85-year history, our Grand Valley Power
legacy is meaningful. While the past is important, we
continue to look forward. We want to build on this legacy,
and leave things better for those yet to come. We are
fortunate that those who came before us paved the way
for our success. It is our goal and our duty to do the same
for future generations of Grand Valley Power members.
5
Star
Customer
Service
$1.4
Million
CashBack
Credits Paid
38.2%
Power
Supplied by
Renewable
Resources
0
Lost
Time
Accidents
326
New
Meters
Connected
$146k
Community
Donations
4-5
Safe & Reliable
8-9
Level Up
6-7
The Power of
Community
10-11
Financial Highlights
Tom Walch, Chief Executive Officer
Carolyn- Sandeen-hall, Board president
2 3

What is the cornerstone of our guiding principles?
Safety. In fact, it’s paramount to our business. In 2020,
we experienced what was the largest wildfire in Colorado
history. Now, in the aftermath, it’s still the third-largest
in the books having burned 139,007 acres of terrain. The
Pine Gulch Fire was started by a lightning strike on July 31,
2020, about 18 miles north of Grand Junction. Our local
agencies responded swiftly, but with the extreme drought
conditions, hot temperatures, high winds and treacherous
terrain, the fire soon became more difficult to control. Over
950 emergency responders and multiple agencies became
involved – all with concern for safety. The electric service
to approximately 89 members located in our De Beque service
area was disrupted on August 10, 2020, to ensure the
safety of the first responders and to support their firefighting
efforts. We worked closely with officials to determine
where and when to shut off power for public safety. The
efforts of our operations, engineering and communications
team members were critical to our success. Early on, there
were intense discussions on the worst-case scenario. Our
geographic information systems analyst and engineering
department were able to use mapping data supplied by the
incident team leaders to better display the structures and
co-op assets that were in the path of the fire. More than 300
poles were in the path of the fire, however, because of the
Incident Management Team’s responsiveness, Grand Valley
Power only had to replace four poles due to the fire.
Part of the communications with our affected
members included constant messaging on our Facebook
and Twitter social media channels. Communications also
included a mailed packet of information explaining restoration
efforts, and what to do once officials allowed people
back to their homes. In addition, we provided critical
information to the incident managers and sheriff’s office
representatives who relayed it onto community members.
GVP operations team members also went door-to-door
speaking with members not only about their power being
off, but to inspect the safety and health of the system and
meters before reenergizing a home. This is what makes the
cooperative difference. It’s Hometown Service.
Inspection, maintenance, and equipment upgrades
all play an important role in keeping our distribution system
secure, resilient, and reliable. It’s important to know
that your cooperative takes these critical components seriously.
Vegetation management is a part of this ongoing effort.
GVP is consistently looking at energized lines and their
proximity to trees or other vegetation. In 2020, 104 miles
of line had tree trimming and vegetation removed or maintained,
with over 3,000 total tree trims completed. Beyond
this, over 300 miles were visually inspected by our line patrolmen.
Some other engineering and operation highlights
included:
• Increased protective equipment and devices in
fire-sensitive areas to further increase resiliency and
safety.
• Grand Valley Power recorded a new system peak of
58.22 MW in early August.
• If outage minutes from the Pine Gulch Fire were excluded,
GVP’s System Average Interruption Duration
Index (SAIDI) would have been the lowest in our GVP
history.*
• Nearly 100 new distributed generation systems were
installed (private solar systems). GVP now has almost
600 total systems on our electric distribution grid.
• Continued system-wide infrastructure upgrades and
expansions, including transformers, lightning arrestors,
transformers and related equipment.
While natural disasters, a health pandemic and stay-at-home
orders affected the cooperative, we continue to see how staying
power means so much more. When we say, “we strive to do the right
thing, holding true to our values and principles,” we mean it. The
foundation we stand on is delivering safe, reliable, and affordable
electricity. During the extreme winter storm that blasted the central
United States, Grand Valley Power and its consumers were hit hard
financially due to Xcel Energy’s imposition of historically high fuel
cost adjustment charges for February 2021. The storm triggered a
tightening of the market for natural gas, which is relied upon by
energy providers like Xcel to heat homes and generate electricity.
The price of natural gas shot up to unprecedented high levels, often
hundreds of times greater than normal. What this meant to our residential
consumers was an average increase of $7.81 each month,
for the next 12 months, although some of our larger consumers saw
bills upwards of thousands of dollars. Grand Valley Power’s Power
Purchase Agreement with Public Service Company of Colorado (a
subsidiary of Xcel Energy) is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) and is subject to that agency’s jurisdiction.
We are doing everything in our power to reduce the financial
impact that will be felt by all Grand Valley Power members. And so
our investigation and analysis will push forward.
Going forward, everyone on the Grand Valley Power team
understands that our members expect and deserve a reliable, affordable
source of electric energy. We will look closely at all options
available so that our results align with this expectation.
Pictured left: GVP Lineman Mike Birch (retired 2019) and Scott Bradley demonstrate
electrical safety around high-voltage powerlines back in the 1970’s. each
year grand valley power participates in numerous community-wide events to share
safety information related to overhead powerlines and padmount transformers.
* Including the pine gulch fire, members experienced an average of 103.7 minutes of
outage duration. Excluding the pine gulch, members experienced 49.433 minutes.
4 5

Chloe Schrader
Jack Broughton -
Colorado Mesa University
scholarship
Fiona Richards
Grand valley power
scholarship
Jonas Saunders
Grand valley power
scholarship
Ryenn Nolan
Grand valley power
scholarship
Amanda Moran
Grand valley power
scholarship
Jacob Weaver
Grand valley power
scholarship
Elizabeth Ballard
Grand valley power
scholarship
Coy sears
Western colorado community college
Electric Lineworker
scholarship
Perhaps in a time where it could
have been easy to “throw our hands up”
or just simply cancel events or community
partnerships due to uncertainty that 2020
challenged us with, we saw this as a time to reinvent and
innovate the way we communicate. Concern for community
is one of our seven cooperative principles which we
are guided by. Even more, we found empowerment in our
community where we came together through the peak of
the coronavirus. Of course, we canceled in-person meetings
such as our monthly board of directors meeting and
annual meeting. Instead, we pivoted to support our community
and make these events accessible through technology,
online and social media. We continued to answer
the call and found ways to make it happen because our
members are what drive us.
The Board of Directors had the foresight to know
our members were struggling with stay-at-home orders
which found many member homes scrambling to pay
essential bills – shelter, food, clothing and utilities were
among those most of concern. The quick decisiveness
of our board, drove us to innovate the GVP Hometown
Relief Fund which was launched in April 2020. The board
approved $100,000 in funding to help our members who
were financially impacted by Covid-19. “After Covid hit,
my husband lost 75% of his income. I have started working
overtime to compensate what I can, but with the loss
of money we haven’t been able to buy our kid’s warmer
clothes, fix our vehicles and are barely able to make our
monthly bills. Food has also become scarce and unhealthy,
as we’ve had to cut down cost. We never thought
we’d be in this situation. You have no idea how much this
helps,” stated one anonymous member. The Hometown
Relief Fund was made available for members for 345
days. Grand Valley Power was able to help 650 families in
a time of need and allocated $65,000 total through March
2021 in bill credits.
Another way was reinventing our member appreciation
“Glow Halloween” safety event. Typically, we host
an in-person gathering where we invite our community
to stop by our office to pick up glow sticks, Halloween
goodies and fun activities during the few days before Halloween.
Our table is normally full of items that adults and
kids can sift through while gathering in our lobby which is
transformed with haunting music, floating ghosts, creepy
spiders, and our employees in spooky attire. As you know,
restrictions limited the way events and gatherings could
be conducted. We filed our event plan with Mesa County
Public Health and were given the green light to proceed.
Instead of our typical event, we invited guests the opportunity
to grab prepacked goodie bags through a curbside
pickup. Much like you would find with many restaurants
and grocery stores, we too had a new way to deliver the
goods by texting us when you arrived. We still dressed our
best and greeted our community with smiles and activities
for both indoor and outdoor activities. The event was
widely popular with over 600 families that stopped by
during the two days. The event also made national headlines
with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
(NRECA) Spotlight on Excellence awards where
Grand Valley Power placed first for Best Event. The Spotlight
on Excellence Awards program recognizes a body of
outstanding work produced by electric cooperative communication
and marketing professionals from across the
country.
Haley Gray
Youth Tour scholarship
AMARAH THOMPSON
Youth Tour scholarship
6
Pictured left: GVP Customer service representative, Debra whiteside (retired
2020), GVP Board of director Rod martinez (left-back), and gvp service planner,
Tony ippolito (right), help pack bags for deployed armed forces for operation
interdependence. in 2020, we raised $5,265 in funds and packed 1,000 boxes for our
military.
7

Budget Billing
We spread your payments evenly throughout the
year over an 11- month period, and on the 12th
month we detemine a debit or credit, based on
your actual usage. Budget Billing lessens the impact
on your budget during the winter and summer
months when utility use is likely higher. So,
despite unpredictable swings in the weather and
your usage, your utilities bills are still predictable.
4 0
Years
Scott Bradley
Serviceman / Line Patrol
Pat Kanda
Finanace Manager
3 0
Years
Auto Pay
Set up monthly bills to be automatically debited from a credit/debit card or a checking or
savings account with Automatic Payments. No more hassles with stamps, envelopes and
trips to the post office! Participating members receive a monthly billing statement and
notification as to what day the payment will be deducted from the designated account.
Paperless Billing with SmartHub
Stop receiving those paper bills that clutter your mailbox! Manage payments online and monitor
energy use with SmartHub, GVP’s online account management. Enroll today by creating
a SmartHub account: gvp.smarthub.coop. Once logged into SmartHub, go to “My Profile” to
change your printed bill status.
PowerMyWay Prepay Billing
Similar to putting gas in your vehicle, the prepay account balance decreases as electricity is used. Members
pay as they go, instead of paying a single bill each month. This program does not require a deposit or
credit check, and there are no disconnection or reconnection fees! Replenish account balances by using
the SmartHub app or payment portal. Members can monitor their balances online, receive mobile text
notifications or email when your account needs to be “refilled”.
15
Years
Cindy Roling - Disptacher
Derek Elder - Corporate & Member services manager
Laurie Miles - Customer service representative
Crystal Adams - customer service representative
Tony Ippolito - service planner
For more information about our flexible payment and billing options,
please visit gvp.org/SmartHub or call (970) 242-0040.
10
Years
Matt mason - foreman
5
Years
Nick Jones- serviceman
What’s truly a testament of a great work
culture? A workforce that stands the test of time.
Where else can you find employees who have been
around for 30 years and counting? It’s this culture of family, service and dedication
that drive our employees and these are the people behind your power. Like many industries,
we haven’t been shielded from years of institutional knowledge and experience leaving
the cooperative. In the past three years many of our stalwart managers have retired; however,
new leaders have stepped into those positions and are leveling up to the challenge.
Located at Grand Valley Power’s Office
We’re supporting our employees and board of directors with training and education,
working together as teams to solve problems and reach beyond the boundaries. We are
providing key training and assigning them significant projects to give them the opportunity
to build leadership skills and to gain experience working across different departments and
divisions. They are learning and simultaneously generating solutions to solve real problems
or bring new ideas within the organization.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted labor markets. Millions of people were furloughed,
lost jobs or had severely cut hours. Others had to quickly adjust to working from
home, effectively within a couple of days. Grand Valley Power closed its doors for two
months, but the commitment to its workforce was demonstrated in several areas: paid time
The nation’s first Electric Cooperatives were established in 1936; the same year that the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) began offering rural
off related to COVID-19, attention to working conditions, safety precautions, and medical
Electric Cooperative loans. In just a short few years, there were dozens of rural Cooperatives across the United States. By the 1950s, our Cooperatives
were networked together through the well-established National Rural Electric Association (NRECA). NRECA decided that Cooperatives needed
laborate and support each other. As we move forward, we’re continuing some of these new-
access. Teams utilized technology more than ever using Zoom meetings and Teams to col-
a mascot: someone to be the face of rural electricity. In 1950, Willie Wiredhand was created by freelance artist Andrew “Drew” McLay to fill that
found processes and programs.
8 role. He was born on October 30th, 1950. By 1951 he was selected by NRECA’s membership to be the official mascot of Cooperatives nationwide.
9

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Colorado Mesa University
Balance Sheet
Assets
2020 2019
Total Utility Plant $105,367,274 $102,736,201
Less: Accumulated Depreciation (30,115,184) (27,697,431)
Net Utility Plant 75,252,090 75,038,770
Investments 1,914,174 1,792,301
Current Assets 7,528,696 7,925,335
Deferred Charges 1,620,436 785,216
Total Assets $86,315,396 $85,541,622
Equities and Liabilities
Total Equity $31,827,404 $30,611,431
Total Long-Term Debt 43,194,846 45,100,770
Other Liabilities 1,958,571 2,675,967
Current Liabilities 9,334,575 7,153,454
Total Equities and Liabilities $86,315,396 $85,541,622
rates have
not increased
since 2012
Statement of operations
2020 2019
Operating Revenue $32,736,709 $31,717,928
Operating Expenses
Cost of Purchased Power 17,026,771 16,926,082
Operating Expenses - Transmission 64,001 66,011
Operating Expenses - Distribution 2,298,974 2,526,129
Maintenance of Distribution Plant 1,035,504 961,490
Accounting and Collection Expenses 890,367 1,122,482
Other Customer Expenses 437,725 387,650
Administrative and General 2,651,177 2,533,221
Depreciation 2,881,088 2,745,106
Taxes 800,978 708,261
Other Deductions 516,764 269,912
Total Operating Expenses 28,603,349 28,246,344
Electric Operating Margin $4,133,360 $3,471,584
Fixed Charges
Interest on long-term debt 1,827,414 1,860,015
Other interest 706 615
Total fixed charges $1,828,120 $1,860,630
Non-Operating Margin 305,988 295,471
Patronage Capital - Beginning of Year $28,715,515 $27,837,650
Net Margins for Period 2,611,228 1,906,425
Subtotal $31,326,743 $29,744,075
Less Retirement of Capital Credits (1,465,762) (1,028,560)
Patronage Capital - End of Year $29,860,981 $28,715,515
RS V
Notice of Annual Meeting of Members
By order of the Board of Directors of Grand Valley Rural Power
Lines, Inc., notice is hereby given that the annual meeting of the
organization’s shareholders will be held at Colorado Mesa University
Center Meyer Ballroom, Grand Junction, County of Mesa, Colorado
on Thursday August 5, 2021, for the purpose of electing a Board of
Directors as provided by the bylaws and the transaction of all business
which may be properly brought before the annual meeting.
Registration opens at 5:30 p.m. in the Meyer Ballroom of the
University Center of Colorado Mesa University.
The map inset shows the parking garage closest to the event location.
Access to the garage is off 12th Street near Kennedy Avenue. Suggested
travel is south on 12th Street to the garage entrance. FFA students will
be on hand to assist with parking and meeting questions.
Program and Agenda
Thursday, August 5, 2021 | 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
A t t e n d f o r a c h a n c e t o w i n
i n d o o r p r i z e d r a w i n g s
over $2,000
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Registration, Entertainment and Dinner
6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Business Meeting
ONLINE AT GVP.ORG/85YEARS
P
CALL 970-242-0040
Order of Business
1. Quorum and shareholder attendance
2. Notice of meeting and proof of publication
3. Approval of 2019 annual meeting minutes
4. CEO and President report
5. Election
6. Unfinished business
7. New business
10 8. Adjournment
11

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