David Luschen
For LPEA District 4
"From front-line utility engineer to Executive Management, I have spent my career working in utilities. With my decades of experience, I can provide the board guidance on the upcoming decisions on the Tri-State contract and decisions on our future energy supply sources, focusing on our local power supply.
I am an excellent advocate for our customers and have a deep knowledge of the ins and outs of the business. As your board member, I will utilize my expertise to prioritize local energy and affordability. LPEA’s future is bright, and with your vote, we can have a positive impact on that future."
Q & A
What have you accomplished in your first term at LPEA?
I have helped keep affordability, reliability and safety as top priorities. During my tenure,
LPEA has secured a 10% reduction in power purchasing costs, increased reliability and
fire safety, and opened Sunnyside Community Solar. Due to the work of many, we will
not have a rate increase this year. Our current power cost per megawatt-hour is $68/MWh,
versus Tri-State at $81/MWh.
How does your experience make you a good fit for the Board?
We now have energy control of our distribution, substation, and transmission assets
along with greater flexibility in generation choices. As a Public Power Engineer with an MBA, I am here to
serve you, and bring my strategic leadership and decades of operational, financial, and
customer experience to our co-op members. I will use this knowledge to guide us
through local energy opportunities such as additional community and
residential solar, upgrading distribution infrastructure, and fire mitigation using technology
such as drones and AI. Additionally, I support transmission upgrades to Pagosa
Springs/Archuleta County including a future 115kv double loop line for redundancy and a
new Pagosa Springs substation.
In the next three years what will be your top priority as a LPEA Board Member?
My goals for the future of LPEA are to continue securing affordable rates through our
new power supply, increasing fire mitigation and infrastructure resiliency that utilizes
new technologies like drone line inspection and predictive maintenance technology. I also want to keep our
capital improvement projects on time and on budget. I will continue to support our
local community through local energy projects and through our current patronage capital
payment cadence. I am here to support the best long-term investment decision for our
members maintaining our Fitch A+ financial rating. We need to make sure
we continue to look long term rather than relying on short term band-aids.
What does LPEA's future power supply look like?
Generation opportunities have expanded now that we are a part of the Southwest Power Pool
(SPP). SPP coordinates, controls, and monitors a multi-state electric grid to ensure
reliability and facilitate open access to transmission lines. An example of these
opportunities is our recent Purchase Power Agreement (PPA) with Vallecito Hydro which
allows LPEA to directly support our community and our local energy producers. As your
board representative, I will evaluate future PPAs prioritizing low cost and price stability,
local projects and flexibility, environmental impact, and reliability.
What can be done with our Transmission Assets?
Our service territory is transmission constrained, which means transmission reliability,
resiliency and fire safety can be improved by upgrading existing lines and/or building
new lines. This is an opportunity to work with SPP and transmission stakeholders to
develop regional partnerships to improve the reliability of LPEA’s transmission grid,
which was not possible under Tri-State.
Why do you want to serve another term on the LPEA Board?
Energy is the backbone of almost every aspect of our lives. I’m invested in the energy
future for our kids and kids’ kids. My experience can help make that future bright
through continued engagement with LPEA and our community. I’m also on my
HOA’s board and member of my church’s Directional Team. My expanded duties at
LPEA include the Western United Electric Supply (WUE) Board Treasurer, Financial
Audit Committee, and Committee on Policy. I also served two years on the LPEA Round-
Up Board. I look forward to continuing to bring my lifetime of experience to the future of
LPEA and supporting local energy control for a reliable, predictable future with
affordable rates.
My Resume
Experience:
Retired from CPS Energy, June 2018
Senior Director, Executive Customer Relationships , CPS Energy, January 2017– June 2018
As Senior Director I set up the newly created Executive Customer Relationships office to improve CPS Energy’s Customer Service with our largest stakeholders and our Owner the City of San Antonio (COSA). Involved with COSA sponsored Process Improvement meetings between our Builder / Developer community and CPS Energy’s Distribution Design Department to include software improvement to facilitate new gas and electric service requests. My Team was also responsible for strengthening our Customer Service relationships with our largest Customers including Toyota Manufacturing, Valero, Whataburger, HEB, etc.
Director, Construction and Maintenance ESD & UG , CPS Energy, November 2012 – January 2017
Director over the Eastern Service District (ESD) which is one of three Service Districts that construct and maintains CPS Energy’s electric distribution assets. At ESD I oversee 180 employees which work in one of the following Crew crafts: Overhead Distribution Construction, Overhead Distribution Maintenance, Service & Meter, Underground Residential Distribution, and Underground Electric Distribution. I am also the Director over our Underground (Malone) Center. My span of control at Malone is 100 employees in either the Underground (UG) Craft Section or UG Civil Section. The UG Craft can be further delineated into Network Capital, Network Maintenance, JBSA, Substation, Large Commercial, and a 3-Phase pad mount crew. CPS Energy’s wage scale employees are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW) Local 500 and I interface with Union Representation on a daily basis to manage my employees. I am proud to be the Executive sponsor for the CPS Energy’s Linesman Rodeo Team.