In this episode of The Co-op Heroes Podcast, we sit down with Chris Hansen, CEO and General Manager at La Plata Electric Association in Durango, Colorado. He shares what it takes to walk away from a long-term G&T contract, rebuild trust from scratch, and build a co-op ready for what comes next.

Most co-ops do not set out to reinvent how they buy power. They are focused on keeping the lights on, serving members, and managing risk. But when La Plata's board made the decision to leave Tri-State and become an independent co-op, they were up against a hard reality. The co-op was capped at 5% local generation, had a growing solar footprint with nowhere to put it, and needed a CEO who could turn a controversial strategic pivot into something members could believe in.

Chris Hansen's path to that job is anything but conventional. He started his career as a nuclear engineer, moved into utility consulting, left to run for the Colorado state legislature, and spent a decade in the state house and senate before a friend reached out about an opening in Durango. Fourteen months in, he is building a power supply portfolio from the ground up, navigating energy politics in real time, and making the economic case to members one conversation at a time.

The proof is starting to show up in people's bills. Rates at La Plata will be roughly 15% lower than they would have been under the old contract. That kind of outcome does not happen by accident. It comes from direct PPAs with solar, wind, and hydro projects that were off limits before, from joining SPP to access the regional market, and from a disciplined approach to utility-scale storage. But Chris is quick to point out that the engineering was never the hard part. The hard part was earning trust in rooms full of people who were not sure the decision made sense.

Featured topics:

• Why La Plata left Tri-State and what the board was trying to solve
• Turning a 5% local generation cap into a reason to build something new
• The economic case for independence when rates had just gone up
• Integrating renewables and storage in a winter-peaking, oil-and-gas-heavy territory
• What a former nuclear engineer and state senator thinks about SMRs and the energy culture wars

Chris shares how he thinks about communicating energy policy without getting pulled into the politics around it, what skills a co-op actually needs when it steps out of a G&T relationship, and why skating to the puck is the right frame for where La Plata is headed. His story is a reminder that some of the most consequential decisions in the co-op world happen quietly, in board rooms, years before anyone outside the territory notices.

This is a story about a bold bet, a deliberate transition, and the work of building trust fast enough to make it stick.