La Plata Electric Association
Legal name: La Plata Electric Association Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 840248168
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Durango, CO, USA
- Phone
- (970) 247-5786
- Rating
- 48
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $118,213,999
- Expenses
- $107,466,442
- Assets
- $292,966,410
- Liabilities
- $134,829,767
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
25 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Graham Smith (Interim Chief Executive Officer / General Council)
- Jessica Matlock (Chief Executive Officer)
- Patrick Berry (Vice President of Finance)
- Drew Timmerman (Vice President of Information Technology)
- Jerry Sutherlin (Vice President of Operations)
- Chris Hansen (Chief Executive Officer)
Highest reported compensation
- Graham Smith (Interim Chief Executive Officer / General Council): $454,854 total reported compensation
- Jessica Matlock (Chief Executive Officer): $448,214 total reported compensation
- Dan Harms (Executive VP of Grid Solutions & Special Projects): $387,206 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To safely provide reliable electricity and energy services to our members and communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
LPEA is an electric distribution system; as of December 31, 2024, LPEA had 49,425 services in place and 3,803 miles of line.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 99% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 62.8%; rating input score 63; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 9.1%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.73; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.6%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.1% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $107.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $455K · 25 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $10.6M reported
- Consistency: 14 of 16 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 25 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.