The co-op difference

As consumers of electricity, we take it for granted that affordable and reliable power is always there when we need it. We walk into a room and flip a switch, and the lights come on.

We have that luxury because 75 years ago, some forward-thinking South Carolinians banded together to form the state’s first not-for-profit electric cooperatives. Bringing electricity to homes and businesses was an important short-term objective in the 1930s, but those co-op pioneers were doing more than planting poles and stringing wire. They were building a new way to empower their communities.

Today, South Carolina’s 20 member-owned cooperatives operate the state’s largest utility network—70,000 miles of line serving some 1.3 million people in all 46 counties. Delivering electricity remains our daily work, but true to our roots, co-ops continue to work for a brighter future in ways you might not expect. Co-ops are uniquely capable of doing so by virtue of our members-first business model. We don’t answer to Wall Street or corporate bondholders. We answer to our neighbors.

Co-ops are more than just utilities, and the reason for that difference can be summed up in the seven principles that guide South Carolina’s electric cooperatives.

1: Voluntary and open membership

Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.

2: Democratic member control

Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions. Members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and elect boards of trustees to represent them in managing the co-op’s business affairs.

3: Members’ economic participation

Electric cooperatives are private, independent, not-for-profit businesses owned by their members, the consumers they serve. They do not create profits for distant shareholders. Any excess revenue is used as working capital or allocated to the membership in the form of capital credits paid back to members, based on their purchases.

4: Autonomy and independence

Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.

5: Education, training and information

Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation.

Co-ops have a charge to keep members informed—not just about cooperative business, but also about topics like energy efficiency, safety and ways to build stronger local communities. One of the most visible ways co-ops fulfill this role is by publishing South Carolina Living magazine. Mailed to more than 480,000 homes and businesses 11 times a year, the magazine has a circulation greater than that of all S.C. daily newspapers combined. Each month, nearly 1 million people read the magazine.

South Carolina’s electric cooperatives are committed to educating their employees, especially when it comes to workplace safety. In 2013, to mark the 75th anniversary of cooperatives in the Palmetto State, co-op leaders challenged themselves to reduce lost-time accidents among employees by 75 percent at 75 percent of co-ops. As of May 1, 2014, they achieved that ambitious goal, reducing the number of lost-time accidents from 28 the previous year to just seven. More important, the heightened culture of safety inspired by the campaign continues among cooperative employees today.

A proven legacy of looking out for members’ interests is an important distinction that allows cooperatives to serve as honest brokers of information when dealing with lawmakers and regulators. Co-op representatives, speaking on behalf of members, were instrumental in crafting a landmark state law on distributed energy resources. They also are working with a wide range of stakeholders to develop an effective State Implementation Plan (SIP) for proposed EPA regulations on carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants.

6: Cooperation among cooperatives

Even though co-ops are independent entities, they still rely on one another to share resources, information, and, in some cases, manpower. Electric co-ops have long relied on one another to get power restored more quickly after severe weather. Called a “mutual-aid agreement,” it works just as it sounds: When co-ops need extra hands after a natural disaster, co-ops from neighboring towns and states help out by sending crews.

7: Concern for community

S.C. electric cooperatives undertake a variety of projects to strengthen the communities they serve.

  • Operation Round Up. Co-op members can elect to round up monthly electricity bills to the next dollar, with the difference going to fund community needs. This powerful idea started in South Carolina 25 years ago and has spread nationwide as a living testament to the cooperative difference. On average, a co-op member donates about $6 a year to Operation Round Up, but those small amounts add up. Since 1989, South Carolina Operation Round Up programs have distributed more than $33 million in aid for community projects and people in need.
  • The South Carolina Power Team. In partnership with Santee Cooper, electric cooperatives created the South Carolina Power Team, an economic development organization that works to attract new businesses to the Palmetto State. Creating jobs does more than generate new paychecks; it strengthens our schools, churches and communities, and that has a positive ripple effect across generations.
  • Honor Flight. In 2012, the statewide association of electric cooperatives partnered with Honor Flight of South Carolina to recognize World War II veterans. The goal: Fly men and women of “the greatest generation” to Washington, D.C., for a visit to the National World War II Memorial. The April 11, 2012, flight of 100 veterans was the first time in state history that an entire honor flight was funded by one organization. As an added bonus, South Carolina Living magazine produced a 212-page commemorative book profiling all 100 of the veterans. Copies of the book were distributed at no cost to veterans, guardians and Honor Flight volunteers, as well as to public libraries and schools across the state. Remaining copies of the book are now available for sale at SCLiving.coop/honor-flight-book. The first Honor Flight was so successful that co-ops fully funded a second trip in September 2012, and cooperative-affiliated organizations stepped up to fund a third flight that year.
  • Washington Youth Tour. Since 1964, electric cooperatives across the nation have sent talented, ambitious teens to our nation’s capital to develop leadership skills, meet public officials and learn how government works. In 2014, South Carolina’s electric cooperatives sent 64 students to participate, the state’s largest contingent to date. During their time in Washington, D.C., students gain a deeper understanding of American history by touring monuments, memorials and museums. They also learn about the importance of public service.
  • EnlightenSC. This K–12 energy education initiative from South Carolina’s electric cooperatives gives students a thorough understanding of energy, economics and related environmental issues. The program includes teacher training opportunities through workshops in local communities and a free graduate-level course for classroom teachers each summer. There’s also a content-rich website (EnlightenSC.org) featuring instructional and other classroom resources, and a set of age-appropriate lesson plans written to existing state standards for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). For the first time in 2015, EnlightenSC is sponsoring the 4-H Student Engineering Contest to be held at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.