Kit Carson Electric Cooperative Installs Ten Free Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in the Taos Area

Taos, NM – In April 2019. Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC} in partnership with the Town of Taos, UNM-Taos, Renewable Taos, Taos County and KTAO Solar Center, installed ten electric vehicle (EVI charging stations in the Taos area. Every EV charging station was strategically installed adjacent to a KCEC owned solar array for integration of renewable energy. This project utilized local labor and entices tourists and residents with an EV to visit the great amenities the Enchanted Circle has to offer.

KCEC placed the EV charging stations at The KTAO Solar Center, UNM-Taos Klauer Campus, Town of Taos Eco-Park and KCEC’s main headquarters at 118 Cruz Alta Road. Each venue has a different combination of universal and Tesla chargers. EV drivers will have the convenience of charging their EV free of charge without worry of their battery running low. KCEC wants to promote the highlights and benefits of northern NM and encourage the public to visit these unique places.

During the day, each EV charging station is by a KCEC solar array, KCEC implemented this strategy to enable families or individuals with an electric vehicle to charge their EV free Of charge. All Of the EV chargers were donated to KCEC and installation costs were minimal. KCEC understands the financial constraints of municipalities businesses and entities thus the charging stations are free to the public.

CEO Luis A. Reyes Jr. “We want to encourage local businesses and communities that we serve to join us the Energy Revolution”.

KCEC wants to thank all of the entities that helped facilitate and advocate foe the placement of the EV charging stations. The positive participation and buy-in from the community expedited the implementation. UNM-Taos and KCEC collaborated collectively on the educational and economic development opportunities the new EV chargers will create. The KCEC Board Of Trustees are committed to the communities we serve by providing the necessary services needed to enhance the quality life of our members

Michael Santistevan, Public
Relations Coordinator
575-758-2258
msantistevan@kitearson.com
www.kitcarson.com

Kit Carson Internet would like to inform all customers that March 1, 2018 a main upstream fiber line was cut around 12:00 noon. Kit Carson’s primary internet services were interrupted due to the destruction of a Century Link large count fiber line which was destroyed by an apparent brush fire. Kit Carson Internet had no control over this matter and immediately began routing traffic on a redundant northern route for critical service institutions. Kit Carson Internet proactively responded to restore service by not waiting for partner organizations to fix the line. The official cause of the outage is being investigated and Kit Carson is awaiting an official report to be made public by the responsible party. Because of Kit Carson Internet’s proactive redundant capabilities, priority and critical emergency response services and anchor institutions were restored by 4:00 pm. All other customers saw service restoration throughout the evening as Kit Carson Internet’s routes began to fully propagate. All customer internet services had been restored by 10:15 pm. Kit Carson Internet apologizes for this unanticipated and uncontrollable situation in service interruption. Kit Carson Internet will keep the public updated as information becomes available with regards to the official cause. Kit Carson Internet would like to once again reaffirm that this outage was not caused directly by Kit Carson Internet. Please see this information source for updates.

www.kitcarson.com

Andrew T. Gonzales
Kit Carson Electric/Technologies
PIO/Telecom Manager

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative Board of Trustees will hold it’s June meeting on June 27, 2017 at 9:00 am at the Angel Fire Community Center, 15 CS Ranch Road.

When: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 9:00 am

Where: Angel Fire Community Center, 15 CS Ranch Road

The Board of Trustees will be rotating our monthly meetings throughout different communities in the KCEC service area. The public is invited to attend. We look forward to seeing you!

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc cordially invites you to join us in celebrating the “lighting” of the $64 Million American Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Fiber-To-The-Home Stimulus Project.

When: July 17, 2015 at 9:00 am

Where: 118 Cruz Alta Rd, Taos, NM 87571

Our celebration will be held on July 15, 2015 at the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc main office located at 118 Cruz Alta Rd, Taos, NM 87571. The festivities will begin at 9:00 am, followed by the Official Ceremony, “Connecting Northern New Mexico to the Technology World” starting at 10:00 am.

This project was started in 2011. Since then it has brought numerous jobs and economic growth to our communities. The services made available to our communities have provided endless opportunities.

We are very excited to watch our communities prosper and grow as they are now connected to the Technology World, at an affordable cost.

We look forward to you joining us in celebrating the completion of this amazing project.

Sincerely,

Luis A. Reyes, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer

Please RSVP to Carmella Suazo by emailing csuazo@kitcarson.com or call 575-758-2258.

By Jo Mixon

Luis A. Reyes, Jr : Chief Executive Officer

Electricity, one of the services we really take for granted! That is until it’s out and we’re left in the dark. Then it becomes a whole different story. Last month I faced a few outages and was somewhat irritated by the inconvenience. But that is also what led to this story; and now I have to tell you, I have a change of heart. The truth is, my electricity IS on the majority of the time. Never, during those times, do I normally think, “I am happy to have electricity today.” I just expect it. Instead, when there is an outage, my feathers get ruffled.

I met with Luis Reyes, Chief Executive Officer of our local/area electric company, Kit Carson Electric Co-op. He began our interview with a little bit of history that I found very interesting. (This is paraphrased, so bear with me if it isn’t exactly historically correct).

The electric company came into being in 1937 as Eagle Nest Electric. Residents in the Moreno Valley had found that prior to the formation of Eagle Nest Electric, no large electric company would service the area. So a few families applied to the federal government and obtained permission for a start-up electric company. Completely investor owned, they had limited resources but lots of needs. They hired a development corporation and selected, due to the tremendous costs involved, the most cost-effective ways to install the electric lines.

Gaining more support, the company moved to Questa in 1939, then eventually to Taos in 1944 when the Kit Carson Electric Co-op was formed. Infrastructure grew during the ensuing the decades, and expanded significantly throughout the Moreno Valley when the Village of Angel Fire became a municipality in the 1980s. In 1984 the co-op put together a five-, fifteen-, and thirty-year plan to bring Angel Fire’s electric grid up to par and take advantage of technological advances. Luis told me the installation and cable design of today is totally different than what was originally placed in our valley. We are still living with some of those design flaws. And mapping of the lines was done poorly prior to the 80s . They weren’t always where the crews were told. The map might say the lines are on the west side of the road but in digging the crew hits one on the east side of the road. This in itself can cause errors and outages. Plus, in Angel Fire, all the electric lines are underground. Miles and miles and miles of underground lines. Discovering where an outage happens is a little more time consuming than if the lines are hanging above the ground.

Kit Carson continues to work toward providing us with better quality electrical services. A lot of the problems we still face are poor workmanship from the original installation and are also age related. Others are due to the work happening now – adding fiber optic lines, which will bring broadband to the mountains. These fiber optics will enhance communications for every technical aspect of our modern daily lives. It will give us 4G! Cell phone coverage, GPS, high speed internet, ATM’s, the schools, the banks, the medical facilities, many area business systems – even your GPS golf cart will receive indirect benefits from the new lines.

Luis and I talked about the benefits of having a locally-owned electric co-op. Local has value, even if you don’t have 100% satisfaction 100% of the time. Being a member of the co-op gives you a voice. Officials listen, educate, and let you know you are not alone or forgotten. Hopefully this new endeavor will increase revenue for the co-op and help stabilize electric rates for the members. In this area of New Mexico, there exists a unique situation. The communities of Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, and Ute Park have approximately 5,000 electric meters. Of these meters only (approximately) 1,300 are full time residents. Therefore, the full time residents have to support all 5000 meters even though the bulk of them are idle most of the year. But due to the nature of being a co-op, Taos, Peñasco, Red River, even Questa also support the rural “vacation” areas. It’s all about neighbors helping neighbors. I really learned a lot during my visit with Mr. Reyes.

I then asked the question everyone has: Are you local? Luis grew up in Taos. He went to New Mexico Military Institute, then to New Mexico State, graduating with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He came back to Taos and went to work for Kit Carson Electric Co-op. He has been there ever since! Luis has held almost every position at the company including eight and a half years as an engineer and has been manager for 20 years. He has seen growth, weathered the storms during bad times, and is witnessing good progress being made today and looking forward to even more progress in the future. He said he has worked every outage in Angel Fire for over 30 years. He has worked with every Angel Fire administration and every Resort owner. Wow, I’d call him a very local, local! He has been married for 28 years. Together he and his wife have three children and two grandchildren.

Luis wants to know if you have a problem, and invites you to call him at 575-758-4890 or email him at lreyes@kitcarson.com. And maybe let him know what you think is good about Kit Carson while you’re at it. As for me, the next time I have an outage, I will purpose to remain calm, think about all the time my electricity works, and maybe have a glass of wine!

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative is diligently working with the Rural Development office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bring high-speed Broadband internet into the Moreno Valley. In order for this project to become a reality, we must show our support for this through a letter writing campaign to our legislators for Northern New Mexico. Below are names and addresses for our legislators and a sample letter to send. Please place this on your letterhead and send it out as soon as possible to show your support for this much needed project.

Mail your support letter to:

Terry Bruner
Rural Development
U.S. Department of Agriculture
6200 Jefferson Street NE, Room 255
Albuquerque, NM 87109

Senator Jeff Bingaman
703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Tom Udall
110 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Greg Bloom, State Director
Sen. Jeff Bingaman Office
625 Silver SW, Suite 130
Albuquerque, NM 87102

Anna Rael-DeLay, Field Representative
Sen. Tom Udall Office
120 South Federal Place, Suite 302
Santa Fe, NM 87501

Rep. Ben Ray Lujan
502 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515

Senator Clinton Harden
1348 CRH
Clovis, NM 88101

Rep. Thomas Garcia
PO Box 56
Ocate, NM 87734

Sample letter of support:

Dear [Name],

I want to express our immense thanks for the funding of the Kit Carson Broadband Installation and for your support of bringing high speed internet service to Northern New Mexico. High Speed Internet will serve as a significant attraction for new businesses in Angel Fire and will create a variety of opportunities and savings for our existing businesses. We currently have a handful of computer, software and consulting companies in town and have verbal commitments from others who are anxious to be able to operate their business from here or to manage it remotely. The speed of service currently available makes those plans impossible to realize.

It has come to our attention that there are individuals that do not support this initiative and we, frankly, find that hard to believe. We believe that this service is the most important piece of our economic development initiative and assure you that it is supported by all the citizens and businesses in our community.

Once again, I want to thank you for your support and vision regarding this vital investment in our community and all of Northern New Mexico.

Sincerely,

[Name]