Wholesaler borrows $100M for upgrades

COLORADO - A Colorado-based electricity wholesaler that serves four states will borrow more than $100 million for upgrades to its transmission lines.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. was one of 46 rural energy providers to receive U.S. Agriculture Department loans announced recently. Tri-State will borrow $102.5 million.

The company, based in the Denver suburb of Westminster, serves 44 electric cooperatives in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming. The cooperatives in turn provide power for a total of about 1.4 million people in those four states.

The USDA loans announced also include about $4 million for Highline Electric Association, which is based in Holyoke, Colo., and serves customers in Colorado and Nebraska.