CORE Electric Cooperative
Letter to members provided by CORE; photos by Terri Wiebold
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Earlier this year, our employees set a goal of making our organization the premier electric utility in Colorado. I’d like to welcome you to the next step in our journey toward that goal: CORE Electric Cooperative.
Since 1938, this cooperative has provided reliable, affordable power to its members. In those 80-plus years, we expanded beyond a small mountain footprint and rural-only roots. In so doing, we have outgrown the name Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA). We therefore made the decision, along with the Board of Directors, to select a new name for our cooperative – a name that better reflects our identity not just as the largest electric distribution cooperative in Colorado, but also as a driving force in one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S.
More importantly, in choosing a new name, we looked to the families, businesses and communities we serve. We saw that we are core to – and at the heart of – the lives of our 300,000-plus customers. We also noted that our communities are in the geographic core of Colorado. And we saw that so many of the words we associate with our utility and its work start with the same two letters: COoperative. COmmunity. COnnection. COlorado. COmmitment.
CORE is a bold, one-word name that represents our newly-stated mission of providing members “The Energy to Thrive.”
Our new name, logo and mission better position us for the future, but we understand many of our members – especially those who have been part of our cooperative for decades – might have questions about this. Rest assured that the fundamental components of our cooperative remain unchanged. We still offer our members the co-op difference:
Local. We are Coloradans serving Coloradans, and partners to our communities, donating to and supporting hundreds of charitable programs and local nonprofits.
Member-owned. CORE Electric Cooperative is owned by you, our members. Each of you has a say in how we operate and who sits on our board. No other business model offers such a direct relationship between the utility and the people it serves.
Not-for-profit. CORE does not operate for profit. Our margins are invested back into the delivery system, and we will continue to return capital credits to members whenever possible, just like the over $120 million returned to our members over the last decade.
You also can expect to see our new logo throughout your communities – not just on the vehicles and equipment our dedicated employees use to improve and maintain our system, but also at local events and venues.
Thank you for being a CORE member. My fellow employees and I promise to keep providing you The Energy to Thrive.
Jeff Baudier, Chief Executive Officer
CEO of CORE Electric Cooperative, Jeff Baudier, 45 feet in the air atop a utility pole, raising the new CORE flag and making a presentation to the more than 500 employees and guests attending the rebranding event. To read more about Baudier, see related story on page 35.
Linemen for CORE are thought of as the “Special Forces” of utility workers. Completing four years of apprenticeship training as a journeyman lineman before certification, linemen often work in extreme weather and intensely dangerous situations. Grant Kleweno (pictured above) displays some of the on-the-job equipment he uses.
