Proceeding No. 18F-____E
Attachment I
Page 1 of 2

TRI-STATE

GENERATION

AND

HEADQUARTERS: P.O . BOX 33695

TRANSMISSION

ASSOCIATION,

DENVER,COLORADO 80233-0695

INC.

303-452-6111

May 8, 2018
Jasen Bronec
Chief Executive Officer
Delta-Montrose Electric Association
P.O. Box 910
Montrose, CO 81402

Colorado PUC E-Filings System

Dear Jasen,
This is in response to your correspondence of April 24, 2018 where you asked for
certain information from Tri-State related to Kit Carson Electric Cooperative 's withdrawal
from Tri-State. Your request was made under Board Policy 406, and I am responding as
the policy directs.
Article I, Section 3 of the Tri-State bylaws provides that no member shall be
permitted to withdraw until it has met all of its contractual obligations to Tri-State . I have
consistently told you and others who have asked about this, that information used to
calculate the value to Tri-State of one Member System's wholesale electric service
contract is not relevant to the value to Tri-State of any other Member Systems' contract.
The value to Tri-State of each Member System's contract is different from that of any
other Member System and is influenced by many factors , including the term of the
contract , the date of withdrawal, current and projected market conditions, current and
projected loads and Tri-State rates, among others.
Tri-State does not disclose one Member System's confidential information to
another Member System, regardless of whether such information is subject to a
confidentiality agreement. I know that Kit Carson has authorized Tri-State to release
certain information (subject to certain conditions) to DMEA. However, we continue to
consider the information you have requested to be confidential and we have informed Kit
Carson that Tri-State does not agree to waive any of Kit Carson's obligations or any of
Tri-State's rights under the parties ' confidentiality agreement.
Further, the process of agreeing to a contract value necessarily involves an
element of negotiation. The disclosure of such information regarding one Member
System's withdrawal negotiation to any other Member System would disadvantage
Tri-State's remaining members in any subsequent contract value negotiations.
Therefore, the information you have requested, in my opinion and in the opinion of
Tri-State's General Counsel, is Restricted Information within the meaning of Tri-State
Board Policy 406, subsections C (1)(e), (f) and (g).

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY I AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER

A Touchstone Energy°Coo perative ~
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CRAIG STATION

ESCALANTESTATION

NUCLA STATION

P.O. BOX 1307

P.O. BOX577
PREWITT.NM 87045
505-972-5200

P.O . BOX698
NUCLA, CO 81424-0698
970-864 -7316

CRAIG, CO 81626-1307
970-824-4411

 Proceeding No. 18F-____E
Attachment I
Page 2 of 2

Jasen Bronec
May 8, 2018
Page 2

For these reasons, I will not provide the information you have requested.
However, I remain committed to attempting to resolve the withdrawal and contract
valuation issue with DMEA.
Board Policy 316 provides a process for you to take this issue to the Board for their
final determination. As you know, the policy is a two-step process that starts with an
informal complaint to me, followed by a formal complaint to the Board. I think your
request for this information, which I have denied, should be treated as an informal
complaint. I see no reason to require you to jump through that hoop and get the same
decision from me that I have made here. Therefore, Tri-State will waive the informal
complaint process in this case and if DMEA wishes to file a formal complaint, it may do so
under the formal complaint process in Board Policy 316.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Micheal S. Mcinnes
Chief Executive Office

MSM/dkb

cc: Kenneth V. Reif, Senior Vice President and General Counsel

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY I AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER

-

A Touchstone Energy"Cooperative ~