Golden State Power Cooperative has three classes of associate members. Class B Associate Members are electric distribution utilities headquartered in California, but are not necessarily structured as electric cooperatives. Class C Associate Members may or may not be electric cooperatives, but are not headquartered in California. Golden State Power Cooperative also collaborates with many types of entities that offer goods and services to benefit Golden State members, and are Class D Associate Members. We appreciate the cooperation of our Associate Members and their support of Golden State Power Cooperative.
Class B Associate Member
- Trinity Public Utility District
Class C Associate Member
- Arizona G&T Cooperatives
Class D Associate Members
- Brown & Kysar, Inc.
- General Pacific
- Meridian Cooperative
- NISC
- NRTC
- NWPPA
- Pioneer Utility Resources
Trinity Public Utility District
Trinity Public Utilities District was established in 1981 after a group of local citizens organized a committee and raised money to buy the electric distribution system of a small investor-owned utility, CP National, in the Weaverville basin in 1982. CP National had some of the highest rates in California, which had contributed to the closure of the lumber mill in Weaverville. The idea of forming a local utility was part of the effort to reopen Weaverville’s lumber mill. TPUD was able to access a federal hydropower allocation from the Western Area Power Administration and begin service to the Weaverville area in 1982. The low rates enabled by this federal hydropower allocation allowed the local mill to reopen with rates that were less than half of the previous investor-owned rates.
TPUD’s service area is 2126 square miles and serves approximately 7,350 metered customers from 9 substations over rugged mountainous terrain. TPUD owns 3 snow cats in addition to traditional line maintenance equipment and can be severely impacted by winter storms. In more recent years, TPUD has been impacted regularly by forest fires.
100% of the power TPUD distributes to customers comes from California’s Central Valley Project. Their federal hydropower allocation is the result of an entitlement created as part of the 1955 Trinity River Division Act that enabled the creation and construction of the Trinity River Division of the Central Valley Project. TPUD is entitled to 25% of the hydropower that is produced as a result of diverting Trinity River water to the Sacramento River for irrigation purposes. Currently, TPUD is utilizing less than 1/3 of the hydropower allocation that is available to them.
As a result of receiving 100% carbon-free power, TPUD is legislatively compliant with California’s renewable portfolio standard. This low-cost, carbon-free resource is a significant asset to a county that ranks among the poorest in California.
Paul Hauser is the General Manager and Mike Rourke is the President of the Board of Directors.
Visit trinitypud.com for more information.
Arizona G&T Cooperatives
Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (AEPCO) is a wholesale generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative established in 1961 serving six Class A Members located throughout rural Arizona and parts of California and New Mexico, including Anza Electric Cooperative. AEPCO also provides scheduling and trading, and other services to its Class D Members, through a partnership with ACES and its Western Regional Trading Center. Other services may include regulatory reporting and compliance, natural gas and power hedging, operations and maintenance, engineering and planning. AEPCO owns and operates more than 600 MW of power resources and 814 miles of high voltage transmission; it operates a 24-hour operations center and sub-metered balancing area authority (1400 MW), including SCADA/EMS, switching, outage coordination, and communication.
Sierra Southwest Cooperative Services, Inc. develops renewable resources for AEPCO and its Members, including the Apache Solar Facility in Willcox, Arizona and the Sun Anza Solar Facility in Anza, California.
Visit www.azgt.coop for more information.
Brown & Kysar, Inc.
BKI provides hands-on engineering, permitting, and planning solutions to small and mid-sized consumer-owned utilities in the West, to benefit their public power partners and the communities they serve. BKI also provides wildfire mitigation planning services.
Visit bki.cc for more information.
General Pacific, Inc.
General Pacific, or GenPac, is one of the leading wholesale stocking distributors in the Northwest region of the United States. GenPac has served the Electrical Utility, Water Utility and Contractor markets since 1965. General Pacific has built long lasting relationships with customers by providing them with quality products and value added services.
Visit generalpacific.com for more information.
Meridian Cooperative
Meridian Cooperative, formerly SEDC, was formed in 1976 by a group of Electric Membership Cooperatives with a vision for a single enterprise solution provider to serve data processing, IT, and operational needs to cooperatives, public utility districts, and municipal utilities. Through carefully curated acquisitions and partnerships, Meridian Cooperative has unified multiple leading-edge companies under its umbrella in order to truly execute that vision. Today, the Meridian Cooperative Enterprise serves over 500 utilities across the country with industry-leading enterprise software solutions.
Visit www.meridian.coop for more information.
National Information Solutions Cooperative
NISC is a leading provider of software solutions and services for utilities and telecoms. NISC offers advanced, integrated solutions featuring automated workflows, electronic approvals, and more in areas of billing & customer service, accounting, engineering & operations, meter data management, payment channels, cybersecurity, and eServices/Apps. Today, more than 20 million consumers in all 50 states, American Samoa, Palau, and Canada receive utility or telecommunications services from companies utilizing their advanced information technology systems.
Visit nisc.coop for more information.
National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative
The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) supports over 1,500 utilities by delivering smart grid, broadband and video solutions that promote economic development and improve the quality of life in rural America.
Visit nrtc.coop for more information.
Northwest Public Power Association
The mission of Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA) is to enhance the success of its members through education, training, timely communication, governmental and regulatory relations, and other value added services. NWPPA is an international Association representing 150 public power consumer-owned, locally controlled utilities in the Western US and Canada with approximately 300 associate members who provide goods and services to NWPPA public power members.
Visit www.nwppa.org for more information.
Pioneer Utility Resources
Pioneer Utility Resources provides media services to each electric cooperative in California. Ruralite magazine reaches more than 300,000 homes monthly through 47 zoned editions covering Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California and Montana. Currents magazine—which is published 6 times per year—covers Arizona and reaches nearly 44,000 additional readers. Each member-utility receives a custom version of the magazine, enabling them to use the magazine to communicate with their members about important issues and promote programs specific to their utility.
Visit PioneerUtilityResources.com for more information.
