Lea County Electric Cooperative

Legal name: Lea County Electric Cooperative Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850096243
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lovington, NM, USA
Phone
(575) 396-3631
Rating confidence
Limited

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$115,478,058
Expenses
$114,864,140
Assets
$299,904,110
Liabilities
$177,482,274

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN GRAHAM (PRESIDENT)
  • ROBERT CAUDLE (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ROBERT FERRIS (EVP & GENERAL MANAGER): $620,604 total reported compensation
  • BOBBY KIMBRO (ENGINEERING MANAGER): $337,474 total reported compensation
  • DENISE MCDANIEL (ACCOUNTING MANAGER): $313,189 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Lea county electric is a community focused cooperative that strives to be innovative and environmentally friendly, while providing its members high value, low cost, and safe reliable service.

What it reported doing in 2025

Sale of electric power to our members at cost on cooperative basis through the allocation of patronage capital. There were 16,775 connected members at year end.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: Limited
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.5%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.61; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.59; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 4 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $621K · 15 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $9.9M reported
  • Consistency: 13 of 13 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.