Taos, N.M. – A Colorado-based power company that provides electricity to about 100,000 New Mexico customers says it will raise its wholesale prices by 11 percent in January.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which provides power to 12 rural electric cooperatives, said in a news release Friday that its prices will increase from 5.1 cents per kilowatt-hour to 5.65 cents per kilowatt-hour.
This latest hike in a nearly annual series of rate increases will boost Tri-State’s wholesale rate about 60 percent since it acquired the co-ops’ previous supplier, Plains Electric Generation, in 2000.
Tri-State, based in Westminster, said it needs the latest increase to cover the cost of buying extra power to meet growing demand.
“Until we get some new baseload generating facilities developed, we’re going to have to buy expensive power on the open market to meet the growth,” J.M. Shafter, Tri-State’s executive vice president and general manager, said in the news release.
Several co-ops say they plan to pass the cost increase on to customers. Luis Reyes, CEO of Kit Carson Electric Co-op in Taos, said rates for an average customer using about 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity will rise by about $2.50 per month starting in February.
