Electric co-op vital signs are strong

In a day when it seems that a dollar buys less and less, the men and women working at your local electric power association are doing what they can to make sure you get the most out of every dollar you spend with them.

Recent data collected by the Rural Utilities Service for calendar year 2002 and pulled together by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association shows just that. For the last 10 years, electric co-ops across the country have shown steady improvement in the number of customers per distribution system employee. In 1992, there was an average of 228 customers per employee; in 2002, there was an average of 263 customers per employee.

This shows that even though co-ops are adding customers, we are keeping our costs down by running more efficiently.

Electric co-ops have also managed to keep their rates stable and competitive. The rate of inflation has been under 3 percent for most of the last 10 years; co-op rates and costs have generally stayed under that rate during those years.

For example, in 1999 the average monthly electric bill for co-op customers was $79 and in 2002 it was $89, which, after being adjusted for inflation, is an increase of less than 1 percent in costs to the consumer.

Compared to other consumer goods, electricity remains a value. For example, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the cost of gas has increased nearly 4 percent every year for the past 10 years; the cost of milk has increased about 3.5 percent every year for the past 10 years. However, the cost of electricity has increased just under .5 percent every year over the past 10 years.

Even as consumer reliance on electricity increases, the overall cost has increased less than one percent annually.

And what of the growth of electric co-ops compared to investor-owned utilities? Co-ops are going strong. Data from 2002 showed that rural electric distribution co-ops grew 2.5 percent in 2002—which equals 800,000 additional persons served—whereas total industry consumer growth was 1.2 percent in 2002.

In fact, co-ops have outpaced the consumer growth of the rest of the industry for more than 10 years.

Your electric cooperative was created to serve the people for whom it provides power. The principle on which we were founded—service to our local communities —is just as strong today as the day we opened our doors.

Regardless of how much electricity you use, your local electric power association, as a consumer-owned cooperative, will do everything it can to help you get the most out of your power dollar.