About Billy Knight
My name is William J “Billy” Knight. I am proud to be a grandson of EB Ortiz who helped establish our electrical cooperative in 1944. I would be honored to serve on KCEC’s board to continue this legacy of service to the community. I have served on many non-profit boards in Taos, as well as having been appointed by two NM Governors to serve on statewide boards. I am retired from a successful financial advisory business and feel I have the time and ability to represent KCEC as a board Trustee. I am committed to honesty and full transparency in all my decisions.
I am committed to ensuring that KCEC continues to innovate to deliver the highest-quality, most affordable electricity to northern New Mexico communities, along with other essential infrastructure services that support the healthy, equitable, sustainable development of our communities.
My priority is to ensure that KCEC has a long-term strategy and plans in place to continue its commitment to service excellence and leadership that supports our families, businesses, and community institutions today and for generations to come.
Specifically, in order to ensure the best possible continued support for our rural communities, KCEC’s long-term strategy and plans in place need to prioritize:
Service Excellence
- Affordability – with electricity prices continuing to be among the lowest for rural communities across the country
- Reliability and Resilience – through continued grid modernization, including remote outage detection, real-time outage maps, automated switching, and investment in rapid dispatch capacity
- Complementary Services – such as propane, internet, a public EV-charging network, and public Wi-Fi hotspots across its service area
- Member and Employee Support – including payment-assistance programs for low-income households, energy audits and energy savings guidance, and support for rooftop solar installation
Sustainable Leadership
- Local Leadership on Sustainable Rural Development – KCEC’s service excellence has been the result of its commitment to innovating to support healthy and equitable development that contributes to the continued sustainability of our communities. This includes lower-cost and more reliable electricity, and protecting our communities from environmental risks through building one of the most solar-based electricity generation portfolios in the country.
- Collaborative Leadership with Tribal Nations to Support Energy Sovereignty – continuing efforts to work with Taos Pueblo and Picuris Pueblo to support their aspirations for developing their own capacity for generating and delivering electricity
- National Leadership – continuing to promote these innovations nationally as model opportunities for co-ops to serve their communities, which can bring additional funding and technical support for rural development to northern New Mexico
- Sustainable Coop Leadership – and most importantly, to ensure that all of this can be achieved and continued through leadership transitions, KCEC needs to have robust leadership development plans and programs in place for all levels of staff and the board