1/1/2014

Electric cooperative lobbyists represent members’ interest

    Each year in Congress, hundreds of bills are introduced that could directly affect you, as a member of an electric power association. These issues range from energy and climate-change policy and disaster relief to endangered species protection and railroad reform.
    On the state level, legislators frequently debate proposals that could profoundly affect the reliability or affordability of your electric service—consequences they may not have intended or even foreseen.
    These are the reasons electric power associations maintain a close relationship with state lawmakers and help support the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) in its federal lobbying efforts.
    Since 1942, NRECA has been an advocate for consumer-owned electric cooperatives on energy and operational issues, as well as community and economic development. NRECA lobbyists work with two-thirds of the U.S. House and Senate committees and subcommittees. But they get their “marching orders” from your local electric power association’s board of directors, whom you elect at the association’s annual meeting.
    Your association’s directors and staff do all they can to keep your electricity costs affordable, and they do a great job of it. But there are things outside their control, like government rules and regulations, that affect prices and electric service. So electric power association lobbyists and leaders work with lawmakers to develop policies that are fair to electric cooperative members. And when lawmakers hear the voice of Mississippi’s electric power association members, they tend to listen.
    Our very existence serves as a prime example. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935, rural residents in Mississippi began forming their own electric cooperatives to bring electricity to their homes and farms. Today, 42 million Americans receive electricity from more than 900 consumer-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives. Twenty-five electric power associations distribute electricity to consumers in Mississippi. That’s a pretty impressive achievement for a grassroots movement rooted in the Great Depression.
    I realize you may not wake up in the morning wondering whether elected officials could be discussing a proposal that could raise your electricity costs. That’s why we have lobbyists to track such things for you.
    We do, however, encourage you to learn who represents you in the Mississippi Legislature and in Congress. And we have an app for that! The Electric Power Associations of Mississippi offers a free, interactive legislative app that provides information and links for Mississippi’s state and federal elected officials. Download the “Mississippi 2014 Legislative Roster” from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store.
    We also offer a free digital version of the roster at our website, www.epaofms.com.
    We encourage you, our members, to get involved in the political process; after all, you are the real voice of your electric cooperative. You can make a difference by helping shape the laws and rules that affect your electric service—and your wallet.
    Meanwhile, we will continue meeting face to face with Mississippi’s elected officials to help them understand the value of reliable, affordable electric service in improving the quality of life throughout our state.

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