(0:00) Joining me live in studio now, former CEO, the retired Jim Webb in studio from (0:06) Lower Valley Energy and the new CEO joining me in studio today as well. (0:10) That’s Bear Prairie, both to talk about Lower Valley Energy, Jim Bear. (0:15) Good morning.

(0:16) How are you guys? (0:17) Morning, dude. (0:18) I’m doing great. (0:19) You kind of made a joke a moment ago before we went on the air, the Jim and (0:22) Bear show, and it kind of made me, I was like, Oh no, this, this could be a real (0:26) thing and this could be a good, good deal.

(0:28) But yeah, I’m excited to be here this morning and introduce my good friend, (0:32) Bear Prairie, known him for about 15 years. (0:35) And, and I can’t think of a better person to take my spot. (0:39) So I’m excited to be here with him this morning.

(0:41) Absolutely. (0:42) And, uh, Bear’s spent a lot of time in the, the energy industry, understand (0:46) in Idaho and, and, and we’ll talk about that and what led him to this position. (0:50) Uh, Jim, I think we, we should start with you and 40, 40 years or more than 40? (0:55) No, 36 years.

(0:56) 36. (0:57) So, okay. (0:58) 36 years as CEO or at lower Valley energy at lower Valley.

(1:02) So five years, finance manager and assistant general manager. (1:06) 31 is the, is the CEO. (1:08) Yeah.

(1:09) All right. (1:09) So take us back to that very first year of CEO. (1:14) What, what was that like for you? (1:15) And, and then maybe compare it to, to the last year as CEO.

(1:19) Yeah, well, it was pretty exciting. (1:21) And I just going back a little further, starting at lower Valley is probably (1:26) one of the best days of my life. (1:28) Just so exciting.

(1:29) We’re so happy to, to get the job and be able to work at lower Valley. (1:33) So, but my first year I had, uh, before me was Dick Peck. (1:37) He was a good leader and I learned a lot from him.

(1:40) So, um, the first year was a lot of learning and trying to (1:44) figure out what we wanted to do. (1:46) But, uh, now the last year was, uh, trying to, to put everything together (1:53) so that the new person had a good roadmap and, and everything was laid out. (1:58) I didn’t want to leave any messes behind, made sure everything, uh, got (2:02) done and was ready for the new CEO.

(2:04) Got some projects done. (2:06) So both the first and last year were pretty exciting, kind of, uh, it’s (2:10) kind of, kind of hard to leave though. (2:12) It’s been my life 36 years and it’s kind of hard to say goodbye and this (2:17) has been my baby and now it’s time to hand it off to somebody else.

(2:21) Wow. (2:21) Well, and, and over that time, I mean, we talked about the first and last year, (2:25) but maybe, maybe talk more about how the energy industry has changed in (2:30) your time with lower Valley energy. (2:31) There’s been quite a bit, uh, quite a few changes.

(2:34) Yeah, there’s been a lot of changes and we’ve had a lot of exciting projects. (2:38) I was happy to get the natural gas pipeline to Afton finally done after nine years. (2:43) So it’s good to have that project done.

(2:46) I told Terry the other morning when we had the fireplace going that, Hey, (2:50) that gas is coming from Montpelier. (2:53) It’s not coming from a truck. (2:54) So that was exciting to get that done.

(2:57) But yeah, just, you know, the changes it’s been evolving, but the industry (3:02) is still the same as when we started. (3:04) Uh, just new problems and new issues have aging plant that’s been around (3:09) lower Valley has been around for 85 years. (3:11) So, um, got to watch out for that and keep up the reliability, but really (3:16) been focused on the same things, reliability and rates, trying to keep (3:20) rates low, the reliability high.

(3:23) And we’ve had a lot of exciting, fun projects over the year and over the years. (3:28) And so, yeah, absolutely. (3:31) Uh, well, of course you, you introduced bear.

(3:33) Uh, you mentioned you’ve, you’ve worked with him for quite a while and maybe, (3:38) maybe, uh, before we go to bear, tell us more about the transition and, (3:42) uh, and how this process has played out. (3:44) Okay. (3:45) Well, first of all, yeah, we’ve known each other for about 15 years and one (3:49) interesting point, and I hope bear doesn’t mind if I tell this, but I think (3:53) it was about seven, eight years ago.

(3:55) I actually tried to hire bear to be, uh, the assistant general manager or vice (3:59) president and, and hoping to prepare him to take my place that didn’t happen, (4:04) but it did in the long run, I guess. (4:07) So, so he would have been my pick and I’m excited to have him here. (4:10) The transition’s been good.

(4:12) Um, he, he knows what he’s doing and we tried to leave a good (4:16) roadmap behind on what needs to be done. (4:18) So I think he’s ready and he’s going to be off and running. (4:21) Already is off and running.

(4:22) Well, bear, uh, welcome to, welcome to lower Valley energy (4:26) and the star Valley area. (4:27) Tell us about your background. (4:28) Yeah.

(4:28) Yeah. (4:28) Thanks. (4:29) Happy to be here.

(4:30) Um, yeah. (4:31) One, you know, Jim tried to, uh, you know, lure me away, but it, you know, ended (4:35) up working out to where about, uh, five or six months, the, uh, uh, prior general (4:41) manager vital falls power left. (4:43) So I moved from the assistant general manager to the general manager.

(4:46) So I’ve, you know, been managing a utility down there for, um, about eight years. (4:51) And then, uh, decided to, uh, take a spin and try and work on developing (4:56) some nuclear projects down in Utah. (4:59) So that’s what I’d been working on for about the last six months until Jim (5:03) called me up and said, Hey, I’m finally, uh, gonna hang up the hat.

(5:06) And, and, uh, funny, funny side story is actually looking for property (5:10) up here for a vacation place. (5:11) Cause I’m a fly fishing, outdoor nuts. (5:13) So I was like, Hey, place in Wyoming is, you know, fun spot (5:17) to have a little vacation spot.

(5:19) And then, uh, you know, Jim said, well, what about maybe coming up here full (5:23) time and, uh, running another utility? (5:26) And, you know, one of the things I haven’t ever done in my career is worked (5:29) for a co-op and I think, uh, the, you know, the cooperative values and (5:33) member focus was something that really drew me to the area and, and, you (5:37) know, obviously, you know, it’s a amazing place to live. (5:41) Yeah, absolutely. (5:42) And so you’ve been in the position now for almost two weeks, I guess officially.

(5:47) Right. (5:47) So, uh, I understand, or at least assume that you had a chance to meet (5:51) with all the great staff at lower Valley. (5:53) What, what was your initial message to them as, as you met the (5:56) people that work for lower Valley? (5:58) Sure.

(5:58) I mean, my, my initial message is same, same thing as, uh, you (6:02) know, working at idle false power. (6:03) The biggest thing for me right now is to listen, um, understand the utility, (6:07) understand the people, uh, listen to their perspective on what they see. (6:11) The challenges are moving forward.

(6:13) Uh, they have, you know, the boots on the ground. (6:15) They’ve been here for the longest time. (6:16) I certainly have my background and perspectives.

(6:19) A lot of my backgrounds focus on power supply, wholesale markets (6:22) and meeting those energy needs, but also, you know, delivering on, you (6:25) know, capital improvements and, and projects that serve the members. (6:29) Um, but you know, I told, I said, you know, things will be, you (6:33) know, changing a little bit. (6:34) We’re going to focus on really what, what we collectively think and (6:39) working with the board lower Valley needs to do over the next, you know, (6:43) decade, you know, this is every time you have a new CEO come in, I think (6:46) it’s an opportunity to reassess and ensure that we can keep moving, (6:51) moving the utility forward.

(6:53) Um, you know, it’s one of the things that drew me to lower Valley is, you (6:56) know, knowing Jim for all these years, um, you don’t do something for 30 plus (7:00) years and not be successful as a CEO. (7:02) You know, if you’re not a successful CEO, you’re a short-term CEO. (7:05) So Jim’s run a very, you know, a successful utility.

(7:10) Um, you know, hasn’t been any surprises there. (7:13) The one, uh, interesting point is a lot of young faces, uh, lower (7:17) Valley saw the same change. (7:20) I think that, uh, most utilities saw in the industry where a lot of (7:24) retirements over the last five, six years, uh, which is exciting, right? (7:28) There’s a lot of young faces that are excited and also a little nervous (7:32) having a new CEO come in.

(7:33) So, um, yeah, I think it’s a, a unique, unique opportunity (7:37) and unique point in time. (7:39) So you mentioned it being a co-op. (7:41) And so as, as our listeners are, uh, customers and co-op owners, if you (7:46) will, member owners of lower Valley energy, I guess, what would you, uh, (7:49) what do you see in the future for lower Valley in the direction it’s going to go? (7:54) Yeah, I think it’s really a time that we need to focus on delivering (7:59) to meet the growth of the area.

(8:01) Um, when I look at the growth of customers, members, uh, the energy demand (8:07) growth, we need to make sure that we’re making the investments to continue (8:11) to meet those needs reliably. (8:14) Um, that includes, you know, internal facilities and external facilities, (8:18) uh, make sure that we have the right training, the right tools, right (8:21) resources to get out there and serve our members and try and find ways (8:25) through, you know, emerging technologies, distribution, automation, AMI. (8:30) I mean, there’s so many advanced systems out there that have come (8:34) about in the last five or 10 years that all the utilities are finding (8:37) the best ways to implement this, to make us more efficient in what we do.

(8:42) Yeah. (8:43) And Duke, if I could brag a little bit about bear. (8:46) So one interesting thing, as you know, one of our challenges (8:49) is, is finding tier two power.

(8:53) So we have our base BPA power, which we want to protect and (8:56) keep as much of that as we can. (8:58) But as we grow, we’re going to meet our own power needs. (9:01) And we’ve been working with Idaho falls for several years, where (9:05) bear was to work together on some of those power supply ideas.

(9:09) So it was exciting to have him come. (9:11) We look, we’re looking at doing some of our own generation and he just (9:15) completed a project in Idaho falls, 17 megawatts, real similar to what (9:19) we want to do here, and we have plans to do, and then also he’s got a (9:23) background in natural gas and purchasing natural gas. (9:26) So I think the comedy, it’s hard to find somebody that’s got both natural (9:30) gas and electric experience, and he’s got that, so he’s got the vision to (9:35) keep us going forward with the power supply.

(9:38) So I think, you know, that’s one of our biggest issues is, as he said, (9:41) meeting the growth, but also producing some of our own power, we have the (9:45) natural gas to do it and we’re excited. (9:47) So we have all the pieces in place. (9:49) Now he just needs to run with it and complete those projects.

(9:53) Yeah. (9:53) And I was actually going to ask that. (9:54) So I’m glad, I’m glad you brought it up.

(9:56) When you look at the future, now that you have a pipeline do you see natural (10:01) gas generated power in, in lower Valley’s future? (10:05) Is that, I mean, as you continue to expand not just the pipeline (10:08) infrastructure, but do you see maybe a natural gas generator down the road? (10:12) Yeah. (10:13) And that’s when we size the natural gas pipeline too often, we made it bigger (10:17) than what it was needed just to supply natural gas. (10:20) So that gave us the option that we can generate power.

(10:24) So we built it for that. (10:27) That’s going to be in the future, but we’ve also looked at a spot in Soda (10:30) Springs with the Hooper Springs line that goes over there. (10:34) That’s a good location.

(10:36) So we kind of, we’re looking at, and we want to spread the generation out a little (10:39) bit, so we have a 10, 10, 20 plan. (10:42) I don’t know if that will end up being what we do, but so 20 megawatts and (10:47) Soda Spring, maybe 10, somewhere in this area and, and 10, somewhere further North. (10:53) So we call it the 10, 10, 20 plan, but bear will probably take and improve that.

(10:58) And it will end up being something different, but we do have a plan and he’s (11:01) going to run with it and a natural gas will be an important part of that. (11:06) Barry also mentioned a little experience in nuclear, it sounds like in Utah. (11:09) Of course, we’re, we’re all very well aware of the nuclear facility being (11:14) built right now in Southern Lincoln County.

(11:16) Do you see any nuclear in the future for lower Valley? (11:20) Obviously a little further down the road. (11:22) Yeah. (11:22) We’ll continue to stay engaged in those conversations and (11:25) different projects are being developed right now.

(11:27) The nuclear is being focused towards AI data centers because the price point makes (11:34) it in the risk, risk points of these first kind projects has it, you know, more of (11:39) we’ll let the large tech companies take that first bite and then, you know, look (11:44) to bring that to consumers because we want to make sure that we can maintain (11:47) that, you know, reliability and affordability, uh, the two together. (11:52) So right now, you know, we’re focusing on natural gas is that gap resource, (11:56) a flexible natural gas, because it does help you integrate all those (11:59) intermittent renewables and, you know, really does clean up the power system. (12:04) That’s that transition that you’re always going to want to have as your backstop.

(12:07) So you can keep the lights on electricity is not a luxury in areas where it’s, (12:12) you know, 10, 20, 30 below is unfortunately a, you know, big swath of the country. (12:17) You just got to experience last week. (12:19) You know, it’s, it’s not a luxury.

(12:21) It’s what you need to have. (12:23) Absolutely. (12:23) Again, in studio this morning, retired CEO, lower Valley energy, Jim Webb (12:27) and new CEO bear Prairie and studio gentlemen.

(12:29) Thank you both so much for your time, Jim. (12:31) If we could conclude with you again, maybe a highlight or two, uh, maybe, maybe (12:35) something you’re most proud of with lower Valley energy, most proud of the rates. (12:41) We’ve been able to maintain some of the lowest rates in the country, lowest of all (12:45) the co-ops and the 900 co-ops in the country.

(12:48) So I’ve always been focused on both rates and reliability. (12:52) What can I do to keep rates down and keep the reliability up when bear and I were (12:57) just talking now, when the lights go off, I don’t have to worry about it. (13:01) It’s always a stressful moment when you see the power go off because both the (13:04) quality of service and the cost, you know, we’re really sensitive to that, but also (13:09) just, uh, you know, I’ve appreciated the opportunity to serve our members and it (13:14) felt like my job was to serve both our members and our employees and we’ve got (13:18) some great employees and I’m going to miss them, but also to serve the members (13:22) and just being part of the community and having the opportunity to provide a (13:27) really critical service to the community.

(13:30) So I’ll miss all that. (13:31) But, um, if there’s an outage, I won’t miss that. (13:33) I’ll call up bear and, and ask him why my power’s out.

(13:37) So I could call somebody else now when that happens. (13:41) Fantastic. (13:41) Love it.

(13:42) That’s Jim Webb, Lower Valley Energy, Bear Prairie also with LVE. (13:45) Thank you so much for your time. (13:46) Appreciate it.

(13:47) So I’ll part of the weekday wake up this morning on SVI radio.