Q&A: Tri-State's Todd Telesz on Building a Stronger Financial Future  

How have Tri-State’s efforts, specifically in recent years, helped strengthen the cooperative’s financial foundation?  

Several foundational aspects of our finances came together in 2024, allowing us to focus on our mission of providing reliable, affordable and responsible power to our members.   

• Tri-State completed Phase I of our resource planning process in Colorado and achieved a settlement without any objections, enabling us to move to Phase II where firm resource bids are being obtained. This process will improve the reliability and resiliency of our system while also ensuring we deliver on and even exceed expectations in our resource planning. We received approval of both the formulary rate and the Bring Your Own Resource tariff, which provide our members with rate certainty and the flexibility to be part of the resource solution.     

• We raised $200 million to fund the first tranche of capital related to the acquisition and construction of the Axial Basin and Dolores Canyon solar projects.  

• With the exit of United Power and receipt of their contract termination payment, we were able to reduce debt by over $400 million and avoid borrowing additional debt and/or  
  fund capital expenditures of over another $200 million, helping improve our balance sheet integrity.      

• In addition to holding our aggregate rate increases for our members to 2.46% since 2017, well below the level of inflation during that period, we are focused on managing and reducing costs that resulted in no rate increases for our members in 2025.  

• Our outlook with S&P was upgraded.  

Due to these successes, we also position ourselves to gain improved access to the capital markets necessary to fund new resources to reliably meet growing loads for our membership. 

What is the role of capital to our members as we continue this energy transition?  

Capital is the fuel of our future. As we transition from a generation base with dynamic fuel costs to a portfolio that’s more based on fixed-priced power purchase agreements, capital becomes one of the key drivers of our rate competitiveness. Dollars are the new BTUs, and sourcing efficient and economic capital from our financial partners is critical to our success. The more access we have to low-cost capital — access that’s driven by member solidarity — the better the outcome for our cooperative over the long term.   

With cost-efficient capital, we will transform our balance sheet while achieving goals around system reliability and resiliency; and with new investments in generating resources and transmission assets, we’ll meet our targets.    

The $200 million bilateral loan we closed with Wells Fargo in 2024 will help fund the completion of the Axial Basin and Dolores Canyon solar projects. We expect to fund the remaining costs with a green revolver, which is expected to close by mid-2025.    

And though potential New ERA funding is important to our future from a cost of capital perspective, it does not impact our ability to build the resources necessary to achieve the reliability requirements that our members desire. Those projects (natural gas power plant and transmission assets) are intended to be funded through traditional capital markets, our long-term banking partners, and institutional investors. 

What gives you confidence in Tri-State’s financial future?  

The key aspects to my confidence in Tri-State’s financial future are our team and our focused efforts on achieving regulatory rate and power supply portfolio certainty, as well as our member solidarity driven by their ownership of Tri-State.  

First, we have the right team at Tri-State. The only sustainable competitive edge an organization has is its people. We work together, solve problems, and focus on the right things. People execute, full stop.  

Vice President of Finance Danielle Bradberry came to Tri-State in 2024 and brings 30 years of financial experience in the energy industry with her. Jessica Lien was promoted to her role as our Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis in 2024 and leads her team with the knowledge she’s gained during her 17 years at Tri-State. Vice President of Supply Chain Services Ashley Perkins, who was also promoted into her role in 2024, is well-versed in the challenges of today’s supply chain, as well as the critical role her group has in supporting our members with 16 years at Tri-State. Working with Deloitte, our new auditor that also works with many of the nation’s largest G&Ts, are Dennis Hruby, who serves as our Vice President Controller, and Assistant Controller Oscar Madera, who rejoined Tri-State in 2024. Together, they are instrumental in our financial reporting efforts and Securities and Exchange Commission filings.  

Second, we are focused on moving towards regulatory certainty: Our resource plan was uncontested, and FERC accepted our formulary rate and approved the Bring Your Own Resource program. Those aspects tie into our power supply portfolio and rate certainty. We are going to have one of the most reliable and cleanest generating portfolios in the country in the latter part of this decade.   

When we talk about rates, consider what they provide for the cooperative:   

• The membership owns one of the best transmission systems in the West, which becomes an increasingly valuable asset.

• We build and invest in the resources that the members own and what will drive our reliability and build our balance sheet equity. 

• Our reliability and equity provide a foundation for improving our credit rating over time, which gives us access to ever more efficient capital.   

• Ultimately and most importantly, a competitive rate allows our members to compete for economic development and growth opportunities and enhance the quality of life in rural America.   

That brings me to the cooperative business model. Our members are our owners, not just rate payers: owners of one of the cleanest energy portfolios in the country and an impossible-to-replicate transmission system. We, as a Tri-State membership, with demonstrated solidarity and adherence to the Cooperative Principles, will drive achievement of our mission to serve the member at the end of the line with reliable, affordable, responsible, and flexible energy. 

-- 

About Tri-State 

Tri-State is a power supply cooperative, operating on a not-for-profit basis, serving electric distribution cooperatives and public power district member-owners in four states. Together with our members, we deliver reliable, affordable and responsible power to more than a million electricity consumers across nearly 200,000 square miles of the West. Visit www.tristate.coop.   

Certain information contained in this post are forward-looking statements including statements concerning Tri-State’s plans, future events, and other information that is not historical information. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described from time to time in Tri-State’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tri-State’s expectations and beliefs are expressed in good faith, and Tri-State believes there is a reasonable basis for them. However, Tri-State cannot assure you that management’s expectations and beliefs will be achieved. There are a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein.