All Entries in the "Utilities" Category
Lamar Utilities Board meeting of January 28, 2025
Board members Jay Brooke, Jill Bellomy, Patrick Leonard and Elmer Grett were present for the January 28, 2025 meeting of the Lamar Utilities Board. Chairman Doug Thrall was not in attendance but participated via phone call. After approving the minutes from the January 14 meeting, Purchase Orders 630564 through 630597 were approved. Of the $314,388.08 […]
ARPA Board adopts 2025 budget at December 2024 meeting
ARPA Board Adopts 2025 Budget: At its December 5, 2024, meeting the ARPA Board of Directors approved its operating budget for 2025 in the amount of $22,797,964. There will be an 8% rate reduction for 2025. This follows on the heels of two previous rate decreases, 3.57% in 2021, and 2% in 2019. The 2025 budget includes: Revenues of […]
Lamar Utilities Board Meeting of January 14, 2025
All Board members were present for the meeting. The first item of business was the reorganization of the board for the present year. Elected as chairman was Doug Thrall. Elected as Vice-chairman was Jay Brooke. Elected as Superintendent was Houssein Hourieh. Lance Clark was appointed as Attorney. Authorized for check signing were all five board […]
Building a grid good enough to support thousands of new EVs and heat pumps will cost Colorado Xcel customers $5 billion
Visible power lines surrounding the Xcel Cherokee Power Station with the Denver skyline in the distance on December 4, 2024. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun) State’s largest utility wants new and improved substations to meet “a demand on the grid we haven’t seen since the advent of air conditioning” Xcel Energy, seeking […]
Lamar Utilities Board Meeting of December 10, 2024
Board reorganization had to be tabled once again due to city attorney Lance Clark being unable to attend the meeting. Minutes from the November 26, 2024 meeting were approved. Purchase orders 630452 – 630486 totaling $685,100.50 were presented, $666,810.81 of which needed board approval which was unanimous. The ARPA power purchase was by far the […]
Lamar Utilities Board meeting of November 26, 2024
Board Chairman Doug Thrall was absent for the meeting of November 26, so Agenda item #1 (reorganization of board to elect Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Superintendent and Attorney) was tabled for the second time, as all board members need to be present for the vote. Minutes from the November 12 meeting were approved unanimously. Purchase orders totaling […]
Lamar Utilities Board meeting 11/12
Minutes from the October 29, 2024 were approved. Also approved were Purchase Orders 630384 through 630418 for a total amount of $215,448.81. Large items in these purchase orders were $57,113.46 for line hardware, and $817,322.94 for October power purchase from ARPA. The Board approved Bid #2055 for street lights, photocells and mounting arms. These are […]
Lamar Utilities Board welcomes new board member Elmer Grett at meeting October 29, 2024
Elmer Grett was sworn in as the newest member of the Utilities Board of the City of Lamar at the meeting on October 29, 2024. He was sworn in by The Honorable Curtis “Lane” Porter, County Court Judge. Mr. Grett is taking the place of previous board member Roger Stagner, who recently stepped down as […]
Lamar Utilities Board meeting of October 15, 2024
Board members Jay Brooke and Patrick Leonard were present in person, with Jill Bellomy attending via phone call. Absent was Doug Thrall who was out of town. Minutes were approved from the September 24 meeting. Purchase orders 630308 through 630358 totaling $1,120,916.36 were approved. The largest dollar amount in these was $1,084,516.24 to ARPA […]
Stampede Powerline Services from Wiley assisting with Hurricane Helene relief work in North Carolina
Our team providing support in North Carolina consists of: Shane Hawks (Wiley, CO), Keith Dennis (Holly, CO), Josh Batemon (Lamar, CO), Ezequeil Chenoweth (Idalia, CO), Gunner Hesse (Keenesburg, CO), Ryan Hause (Ulysses, KS), Victor Correa (Ulysses, KS), Levi Johnson (Haswell, CO), and Tony Anderson (Yoder, CO), pictured left to right. On September […]
Lamar City Council meeting September 23, 2024
NOTE: The print version of this article in our October 2, 2024 paper had incorrect information in the third paragraph regarding the $350,000 settlement money. This amount, in the past, was directed to Lamar Light and Power to lower electric rates for their customers. Council voted at this meeting to deposit this money into […]
Lamar Utilities Board meeting September 24, 2024
The board approved purchase orders 630269 through 630307 in the amount of $67,746.94. Large items in these purchase orders include $28,450.00 to Bell Lumber and Pole for wooden poles to replenish stock and $15,667.40 to Border States Industries for line material. Bills totaling $1,239,985.05 were approved to be paid as well. Some of the larger […]
Xcel gas bills to drop almost 12% for rest of 2024 as wholesale gas prices remain low
Colorado’s largest utility will pass on savings as it seeks a permanent rate increase starting in February A combination of growing natural gas production and mild weather, leading to a buildup of stored reserves, will help lower monthly bills for Xcel Energy residential and small commercial customers by as much as 12% for the last […]
Lamar Utilities Board meeting of Tuesday, September 10, 2024
All board members were present at the meeting. Roger Stagner’s open board position has yet to be filled. Minutes from the August 27 meeting were approved, as were purchase orders 630233 through 630268. Payment of bills totaling $103,317.66 was also approved. Bid #2050 for line materials and hardware in the amount of $15,671.24 was accepted […]
When are Colorado’s last coal-fired power plants closing?
Xcel Energy’s coal-fired Comanche Generating Station, located in Pueblo, is the largest power plant in the state of Colorado. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Colorado Sun) About a third of Colorado’s electricity is still generated by 10 coal-fired power plants. That should drop to zero by the end of 2031. Coal may be on […]
