Skip to main content

Search form

Home
SmartHub Login
One-time Payment
Report an Outage
Ways to Pay
Menu
  • Office Closure

    Our office will be closed on Friday, October 3 while we take a day to give back to our community and raise funds for nonprofits in Mesa County. We will resume normal business hours on Monday, October 6. Members can report outages or make payments online through SmartHub, PayNow, and our automated phone system. 

    Read more »

  • My Co-op
    • News
    • Annual Meeting and Reports
    • Board Meetings and Agendas
    • Director Election
    • Bylaws
    • WARN Grant
  • My Hometown
    • Youth Leadership Programs
    • Scholarship Program
    • Hometown Partnerships
    • Colorado Legislative Directory
  • Member Hub
    • Manage My Account
      • Service Requests
      • SmartHub
      • Other Services
    • Payment Options
      • Shared Savings
      • Ways to Pay
      • Energy Assistance
    • Billing Programs
      • PowerMyWay Prepay Program
      • Budget Billing
      • E-Bill (Paperless Billing)
    • Service Information
      • New Member Information
      • Rates
        • 2025 Rate Changes
      • Time-of-Use Rate
      • Demand Rate
      • Service Fees and Regulations
      • Understanding Your Bill
    • Member Benefits
      • Member Capital and CashBack Credits
  • Energy Solutions
    • Renewable Energy
      • Solar
      • Renewable Energy Standard (RES)
    • Resources and Tools
      • Energy Calculators
      • Home Energy Adventure
      • Ways to Save
        • Summer Savings
    • Electric Vehicles
      • Electric Vehicle Center
      • Electric Vehicle Rate
  • Safety Resources
    • Safety Resources
      • Cybersecurity and Scams
      • Power Outage Safety
      • Safe Kids
      • Safe Outdoors
    • Wildfire Safety
      • Wildfire Mitigation and Safety
  • Outage Center
  • About GVP
    • Co-op Principles
    • Our History
    • Safety Resources
    • Our Mission
    • Power Supply
    • Service Territory
    • Board of Directors
    • Executive Staff
    • Career Opportunities
    • Contact Us

Rate Change Approved

Wednesday | October 1, 2025
All News

Rate Change Approved

Average GVP consumer will see a four percent increase

by Tom Walch, Chief Executive Officer

GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. - (October 1, 2025) One of the most important jobs the Grand Valley Power Board of Directors has is setting rates for the electric service the cooperative provides. These rates must cover the cost of this service and should be fair and equitable to members. To do this, we engage a rate consultant from time to time to perform a cost-of-service study and provide support in rate design. Knowing that we will face challenges covering our costs in coming years, we started down this road earlier this year.

As a result of this process, we received a cost-of-service study confirming that, like other cooperatives, Grand Valley Power faces rising costs. But unlike most other growing cooperatives, Grand Valley Power has also observed a decline in kilowatt-hour sales. The board felt that this required action. At its September meeting, The Grand Valley Power Board of Directors approved a rate restructure. The new rates will take effect November 1 and will increase the average residential consumer’s electric bill by 4 percent beginning with bills received in December.

RISING COSTS

A rate increase is not something we take lightly. Our last rate adjustment was more than two years ago, and since then, operating costs have climbed (see “The Impact of Rising Costs” on page 8). While we’ve controlled expenses — purchasing lightly used fleet vehicles rather than new ones, for example — cost recovery is no longer keeping pace with the increases.

DECLINING KILOWATT-HOUR SALES

Rising costs are only part of the story. Another factor in the necessity of the rate change is declining kilowatt-hour sales. Grand Valley Power has enjoyed steady growth over the past several years. Logic would tell us that more members would mean higher kilowatt-hour sales to help cover the associated costs of a growing membership. But a noticeable trend is defying that logic. As membership grows, more households are generating their own power, mainly from solar. These consumers are buying fewer kilowatt hours from Grand Valley Power, leading to a noticeable decline in kilowatt-hour sales.

WHY IS THAT A BIG DEAL?

Grand Valley Power has different kinds of costs: fixed costs, demand costs, and energy costs. Rates must recover all these costs. Traditionally, most of these costs have been recovered through Grand Valley Power’s kilowatt-hour energy charges. But when consumers don’t buy kilowatt hours, they don’t help cover costs that are built into kilowatt hour charges. If we do not adjust rates, and we keep a disproportionate amount of fixed costs in the kilowatt-hour charges, 93% of consumers will see a bigger rate increase and pick up the slack for the other 7% who are buying fewer kilowatt hours.

WHAT IS DEMAND?

One of the things GVP is doing to address this situation, is introducing a demand charge. This charge is designed to help pay for some of the co-op’s distribution demand costs. What are these costs? They are costs incurred in building out our distribution system so that it can reliably provide all of the power our members need when their need for power is the greatest. The biggest cost drivers are substations, distribution lines, and transformers. We just wrapped up a $2.2 million upgrade to our Highline Substation to meet growing member demand. Upgrades to various other distribution lines and substations will be required in the near term. We need to have a way to pay for these improvements that is not tied to kilowatt hour sales. That’s why GVP’s new residential rate class will include a Distribution Demand Charge. 

Other cooperatives around the state of Colorado, including Poudre Valley REA, Empire Electric, and Core Electric, have charged for demand for quite some time. And Grand Valley Power's commercial rate classes (commercial small power, large power, and industrial) have paid a demand charge for several years.

Household consumers can look at your past bills to see what your demand has been. It’s called Demand kW and is measured in kilowatts. You can control your demand — and charges associated with it – by limiting the number of electric devices you use at one time.

THE NEW RATES

The new rates will more effectively recover fixed, demand, and energy costs in a way that reflects how people use electricity. On the energy side, we are lowering the off-peak Time-of-Use rate. To recover more of our fixed costs, Grand Valley Power is raising the Grid Connectivity charge by $1.50 per month and adding a Demand charge.

With the new demand charge, consumers who use a lot of electric devices at the same time will pay more of the costs associated with increasing demand. These are all components of recovering the cost of our electric service. When you use electricity impacts the time-of-use rate charged (with 4 to 9 p.m. being the higher, on-peak rate), and how much electricity you use at once impacts a household’s demand charge.

While we must raise our rates, remember that you can help us save costs and share in these savings by taking advantage of our Shared Savings program, which offers up to a $50 bill credit for going paperless and signing up for automatic bank payments. That way you can help us provide safe, reliable, and affordable power — backed by the hometown service you expect.

Back to Top

Quick Links

  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Legal Info
  • Privacy Policy

Co-op Event Calendar

 

GRAND JUNCTION WEATHER

We're Social!

©2025 Grand Valley Rural Power Lines, Inc. A Touchstone Energy Cooperative

  • My Co-op
    • News
    • Annual Meeting and Reports
    • Board Meetings and Agendas
    • Director Election
    • Bylaws
    • WARN Grant
  • My Hometown
    • Youth Leadership Programs
    • Scholarship Program
    • Hometown Partnerships
    • Colorado Legislative Directory
  • Member Hub
    • Manage My Account
      • Service Requests
      • SmartHub
      • Other Services
    • Payment Options
      • Shared Savings
      • Ways to Pay
      • Energy Assistance
    • Billing Programs
      • PowerMyWay Prepay Program
      • Budget Billing
      • E-Bill (Paperless Billing)
    • Service Information
      • New Member Information
      • Rates
        • 2025 Rate Changes
      • Time-of-Use Rate
      • Demand Rate
      • Service Fees and Regulations
      • Understanding Your Bill
    • Member Benefits
      • Member Capital and CashBack Credits
  • Energy Solutions
    • Renewable Energy
      • Solar
      • Renewable Energy Standard (RES)
    • Resources and Tools
      • Energy Calculators
      • Home Energy Adventure
      • Ways to Save
        • Summer Savings
    • Electric Vehicles
      • Electric Vehicle Center
      • Electric Vehicle Rate
  • Safety Resources
    • Safety Resources
      • Cybersecurity and Scams
      • Power Outage Safety
      • Safe Kids
      • Safe Outdoors
    • Wildfire Safety
      • Wildfire Mitigation and Safety
  • Outage Center
  • About GVP
    • Co-op Principles
    • Our History
    • Our Mission
    • Power Supply
    • Service Territory
    • Board of Directors
    • Executive Staff
    • Career Opportunities
    • Contact Us