2023 Annual Report – Creating Powerful Connections

In 2023, Umatilla Electric celebrated the people of our cooperative – our members, staff and community organizations that make this region such a wonderful place to live, work, and raise families. We shared stories highlighting the people and organizations who have shaped our communities. With a focus on sustainability, innovation, and community engagement, UEC achieved significant milestones across our cooperative:

In 2023, UEC sold over 7 billion kWhs for the first time in its history. This is the equivalent to serving 650,000 average American households for an entire year. This milestone signifies not only the reliability of your electric system, but also the vital role in powering the communities that we serve.
Through the careful financial management of our cooperative, we were able to celebrate and give over 14 million dollars back to our membership through the Capital Credits program in 2023. Since UEC began issuing Capital Credits in 1960, we have returned money to our members every year, totaling over $120 million.
Throughout 2023, connections were made near and far. We welcomed the connection of nearly 500 new homes, businesses, and other service locations across our service territory.

With increased economic development opportunities in the area, UEC aims to support our region and communities by being prepared for the growth of our membership. This past year, your cooperative began the process to install a 230kV transmission line connecting Umatilla and Morrow Counties.

The 14-mile Umatilla-Morrow County Connect (UMCC) Project will provide transmission system interconnection to the region to increase reliability and capacity, support economic development, regional growth and provide a transmission path for renewable energy across eastern Oregon.

On the front lines of our service territory, crews worked diligently to install nearly 33 miles of overhead line and nearly 32 miles of underground line across our communities. Both improvements and additions help to demonstrate our proactive approach to infrastructure development, ensuring reliability and resiliency across our operations.

Far beyond the lines of UEC’s service territory, our crews were afforded the opportunity to assist in powering a remote village in Guatemala. Funded through a philanthropic partnership between the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association (ORECA) and electric co-ops across the state, UEC was able to send two lineman to support efforts in March of 2023.

With each new project and milestone reached, it’s important to highlight a priority here at UEC – the safety of our employees, their families, and our communities. At the close of 2023, the UEC team surpassed 450,000 hours worked without a lost time injury.

Whether it’s within the industry, plugged into the community, or working hard to ensure your lights stay on – together, we are creating powerful connections.

Download The Complete 2023 Annual Report

Umatilla Electric is more than an ordinary utility — as a corporate citizen and business owned by the members we serve, we believe in making meaningful investments in our communities. Connections to our community is where Umatilla Electric thrives. From event sponsorships to youth programs and in-kind projects, UEC is proud to invest in where we call home.

 

UEC joined with lending partner CoBank to donate to the Boardman Police Department, Funland Playground and TruCare. Through its Sharing Success Program, Colorado-based CoBank doubles the contributions of its cooperative members to charitable organizations. It has now matched nearly $60,000 in UEC donations to area recipients in the past eight years.
In October, UEC staff and Board raised over $10,000 for local Breast Cancer treatment and awareness services. The donation was contributed to the Good Shepherd Community Health Foundation to support cancer-related needs across our communities.
UEC has participated in a School Supply Donation program for more than 20 years. In 2023, nearly $5,000 was gifted to help supplement the needs of our local schools. Needs range from craft supplies to essentials like blankets, shoes and coats.
To our local youth, nearly $50,000 in scholarships, aiding in an opportunity sure to change the lives of these students forever. The 2023 scholarship class included multiple valedictorians, first time college attendees, and collegiate athletes.

In 2023, UEC successfully completed a three-day Service of Excellence training by Touchstone Energy. The training focused on member service, working together as a team and building a strong, professional culture. UEC is now one of only 15 cooperatives in the United States to earn recognition as a Four-Star Service Excellence Cooperative.
In July, several hundred UEC members were surveyed as part of the 2023 National Survey on the Cooperative Difference. The survey provides UEC staff with information on how to better serve our membership and allows us to gauge member satisfaction, known as the ACSI score. UEC’s score rose to 86 in 2023, significantly above the national average of 74.
In October, new rates took effect to cover costs of serving members, with residential rates rising to 7.56 cents per kilowatt hour. Overall, after the 3.9% adjustment, UEC’s rates remain 20 percent lower than Oregon’s average and 35 percent lower than the U.S. average.
With assistance from UEC’s Revolving Loan Fund (RLF), the City of Stanfield moved forward with replacing irrigation pivots ahead of the spring and summer irrigation season. Since its inception, UEC’s RLF has supported nearly 20 local organizations. The Revolving Loan Fund receives its seed capital through USDA’s Rural Economic Development Loan & Grant Program (REDLG).
Energy sales for the 2023 year were 20% higher than sales for 2022. Over the past 3 years, we have seen an average of 20% increase in energy sales year over year. The steady increase is due primarily to our Industrial and Irrigation rate classes.
Through the careful financial management of our cooperative, we were able to return over $14 million dollars back to our membership in the form of Capital Credits in 2023. UEC has distributed Capital Credits to its members every year since the program began in 1960.
In April of 2023, UEC’s Business Resource Center conducted a Woman in Business Showcase, an event highlighting successful businesswomen in the area and promoting local, women owned business.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) awarded UEC with the 2023 Certificate of Safety Achievement in December. This accolade is bestowed upon cooperatives that have demonstrated a commitment to investing in employee and public safety, regulatory compliance, and loss control practices.
UEC announced in August the purchase of an administrative office building located on Main Street in Hermiston. The building will serve as temporary office stations during the rebuild of UEC Hermiston Headquarters.

A New Building For a New Era

For over forty years, Umatilla Electric’s headquarters has remained in the same location on Elm Avenue in Hermiston. Over time, our cooperative has seen many changes and considerable growth. In the early 1980s UEC had roughly 60 employees and approximately 8,500 meters on our system. Today we have over 120 employees and over 16,000 meters.

Looking ahead, we expect to add an additional 75 employees over the next 10 years as our membership and communities continue to grow. In November of 2023, UEC announced an important step in planning for the future of the cooperative, the Board was evaluating options to house UEC’s growing workforce. Overwhelmingly, the desire was to stay at our current location and utilize as much of our existing facility as possible. The headquarters expansion will add an additional 25 percent of square footage and 50 percent more employee workspace.

We are pleased to report that the Cooperative has received an unmodified opinion on the consolidated financial statements, which is the highest form of assurance you can receive on your consolidated financial statements.

– Scott Daniels, Aldrich CPAs + Advisors LLP

After excited anticipation, UEC’s latest fleet vehicles were delivered in December. Two all-electric Ford Lightning F-150 pickups are now in rotation. The new fleet vehicles will allow UEC staff to get real world feel for the new technology and test the capabilities, providing insight to our membership.
In late 2023, UEC’s Manager of Information Technology, Adelaide Zumwalt, successfully completed the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Management Internship Program (MIP). The MIP is a comprehensive program that provides an in-depth analysis of the functions and processes of cooperative management.
UEC successfully completed NRECA’s Rural Cooperative Cybersecurity Capabilities Program (RC3). The program supports cooperatives as they work to improve the cyber and physical security of their organizations. Cybersecurity is vital for utilities to safeguard critical infrastructure to prevent disruptions to essential services as well as keep employee and member data safe.
With support of the IT department, UEC employees received continuing training throughout 2023 to follow cybersecurity best practices and to report suspicious activity.
UEC employees participated in the Cyber Resilience Summit, Critical Infrastructure Cyber Summit, and other regional events to support employee cyber education. Forming relationships with regional entities and staying on top of the latest best practices for cybersecurity continues to be a high priority at UEC.

PICTURED

Saving energy and money brings a smile to everyone’s face. Marc McCoy of Lamb Weston accepted a check from Board Director Tom Pitzer during a meeting in December of 2023. UEC’s Energy Efficiency Team worked with Lamb Weston’s Hermiston group to take advantage of energy saving incentives from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) on an industrial project which will save the facility 6 million kWh per year!

In partnership with Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) Energy Efficiency Representative, UEC’s Energy Efficiency Team was able to secure additional funding – beyond our allotted energy efficiency budget – for seven industrial and agricultural projects totaling $720,186, with an estimated kWh savings of over 3.3 million.
UEC’s Energy Saver Loan Program has processed 234 applications since 2019, with a 90 percent approval rate. The program offers low-interest loans for energy efficient upgrades and on-bill financing. $741,000 dollars were financed in 2023 alone.
The Scientific Irrigation Scheduling program assisted 16 irrigators in reducing water usage by 10,735 acre-feet and produced 9,784,081 in kWh savings on over 40,000 acres. That is equivalent to more than 3.5 billion gallons of water and the same energy needed to supply 627 homes for a full year.

PICTURED

By December of 2023, UEC had successfully replaced over 16,000 meters across the system with new, advanced meters (see inset photo). One of the primary benefits of the new meters, compared to the older models, is their ability to immediately notify UEC of an outage. A system that instantly reports the scope of an outage – the number of meters out and their precise location – will help make our response more focused and immediate.

UEC sold over 7 billion kWhs for the first time in its history, a 20% increase from the previous year. This is the equivalent to serving 650,000 average American households for an entire year. 327,815 feet of line were installed in 2023, with August being the busiest month with 76,087 feet of line in that month alone. Many of these installations helped to serve new homes and subdivisions in the Boardman, Hermiston, Umatilla, and Stanfield areas. Beyond these new homes, though, the services in 2023 varied greatly – pump stations, cell towers, storage buildings, water wells, a cattle scale and even a few food trucks.

UEC crews continued an eight-year underground conductor replacement program for cable that is over 30 years old and due for replacement. With this continuation, nearly four miles were replaced in 2023 alone and since 2020, UEC has replaced over 16 miles with another 4 scheduled in 2024. This program is a preventative measure aimed at reducing outages that may be caused by aged underground conductor.
In 2023, UEC crews successfully replaced over 1,200 advanced fuses in the high fire-danger areas of UEC’s service territory. These new fuses help to suppress any flames or sparks when activated, to better protect the system and mitigate the potential for wildfire.
The high side of the Power City substation north of Hermiston was expanded to allow for 115kV (kilovolt) transmission lines to flow in and out of the substation, tying into UEC’s existing 115kV facilities in the area. Power City is an existing distribution substation within UEC’s system that provides power to many members in Umatilla, Hermiston, and the surrounding areas. Originally built in 1999, the station has been providing reliable service for 23 years.

Pictured: Crews begin the process of transporting a large transformer, headed to power the Irrigon South substation. Construction of the Irrigon South substation improves grid resiliency and centralizes the substation closer to areas of community growth.

UEC proudly contributes to the economic vitality of our communities. More than 90 percent of the co-op’s power serves the irrigation, commercial and industrial sectors, providing a base for economic development and community improvement.

Umatilla Electric’s over 50 substations and switchyards are essential for moving electricity at different high-voltage levels across our system. Some 2023 infrastructure highlights include:

As summer temperatures soared in August, UEC reached a new system peak of 1,012 MW without any significant outages or implications reported in response to the surge in demand.
In 2023, UEC saw the completion of the Irrigon South Substation. This new substation replaces the former 1960s-era facility and is more centrally located south of town on Division Road. With the improvements, the new substation adds 50 percent more capacity to fast-growing homes and irrigation loads and includes new and rebuilt transmission lines.
Construction was completed on the new and improved Columbia Substation. This substation replaces a 1974 substation to provide added capacity, safety, protection and operational flexibility of UEC’s transmission system in rural Hermiston and Stanfield areas.

Apart from substations either starting or seeing completion in 2023, UEC saw the rebuild and improvements of several transmission and distribution lines. To name a few,

1.25 miles of distribution rebuilt out of our Umatilla Substation to increase capacity for a nearby river pump station.
Over three miles of transmission rebuilt between our Hermiston East and Columbia Substation, located just east of Hermiston, to support growing demand and provide additional capacity.
Nearly two miles of distribution rebuilt near Wilson Lane in Boardman to increase capacity and reliability.

PICTURED

UEC staff visited one of our partnering transformer manufacturers, Delta Star Inc., getting an inside look at operations capabilities of the company.

With over 2,300 miles of energized lines across nearly 1,900 square miles of service territory, UEC continues to improve systemwide reliability and resiliency.

In April, more than 600 members, guests and employees attended UEC’s 86th Annual Meeting at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center (EOTEC) in Hermiston, joining us for dinner, an update on the cooperative’s milestones the previous year, Board elections, door prizes and the first presentation of dueling pianos!
Employees greeted hundreds of visitors in October during Member Appreciation Week. Visitors to the Hermiston and Boardman offices received lunch and gifts. New this year, was a luncheon at the Longbranch Cafe in Weston, Ore. In total, over 800 members participated in UEC’s Member Appreciation events as part of National Co-op Month in October.
UEC was awarded the Northwest Public Power Association’s (NWPPA) Overall Excellence in Communications Award on Sept. 20. The award is given to an organization that judges determine had the best overall communications effort in the prior year. This is UEC’s second time receiving the award, and the first utility to ever win the award in consecutive years.

UEC Honored With Distinguished Award

In March, UEC was honored to accept the Hermiston Chamber’s Business of the Year at the 53rd Annual Distinguished Citizens Awards banquet.

Lisa McMeen, UEC’s vice president of administration, accepted the award on behalf of UEC’s Board of Directors and employees, however it is the community we proudly serve who earned us this recognition.

“The true energy of our community is in the people in this room tonight,” said Lisa McMeen, before asking the UEC staff in attendance to share the stage with her. “UEC could not be who we are without you.”

The Value of Life Through Safety, or VOLTS, is a motto every employee practices day-in-and-day-out. By year’s end, Umatilla Electric Cooperative employees had worked 837 calendar days without a lost time injury, a total of 457,673 hours combined.
UEC’s Hydromania Summer Science Camp welcomed 77, 4th and 5th-grade students to its two-week program, delving into a wide array of topics, including water, energy, agriculture, and beyond. The cooperative has been hosting the program for over 25 years.
Over time, our cooperative has seen many changes and considerable growth. As the needs of our members have grown, we’ve added to our team to ensure our cooperative is taken care of. Thirty new team members joined UEC in 2023 alone, and by years end the UEC team had grown to 121.
Member Service Representatives responded to 25,832 telephone calls during the year, on top of requests by mail, email and office visitors.

Oregon Empowers Guatemala 2023

“Seeing [the families] when the light switch came on was – they thought it was the coolest thing ever” said UEC Journeyman Lineman Matt Ellis. “It was very humbling to experience that, some of the things we take for granted here in the states.”

Bonneville Power Administration and the US Army Corps of Engineers hosted a tour of the McNary Dam on June 28. Umatilla Electric employees and Board members, along with representatives from Columbia REA out of Walla Walla, Wa., were able to attend and learn about the inner workings of the dam.

Hydropower continues to provide low-cost and carbon-free energy in the northwest. While wind and solar are a growing part of our clean energy system, our legacy hydropower system works together with them to meet demand and provide reliable carbon-free power when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.

Through a partnership with Voices for Cooperative Power (VCP), Umatilla Electric participated in a call for signatures to urge President Biden to abandon the Draft Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative Agreement as it will have grave consequences and jeopardize reliable, affordable electricity for millions of Americans across eight states.

About UEC

Incorporated in 1937 through the Rural Electrification Act, Umatilla Electric serves portions of Umatilla, Morrow, Union and Wallowa counties. More than 90 percent of our power serves the industrial, irrigation and commercial sectors, providing a base for ongoing economic development and community improvement.

Our Mission

Umatilla Electric Cooperative is a member-owned business that sells energy and invests in and supports other services to improve the quality of life in our communities.