Cooperative Quick Facts

Electric cooperatives are:

• Private independent electric utility businesses;
• Incorporated under the laws of the states in which they operate;
• Established to provide at-cost electric service;
• Owned by the members they serve;
• Governed by a board of trustees elected from the membership.

Facts at a Glance

In the United States, 865 distribution and 65 generation and transmission cooperatives serve:

• 37 million people in 47 states;
• 16 million businesses, homes, schools, churches, farms, irrigation systems and other establishments in 80 percent of the nation's 3,100 counties;
• 12 percent of the U.S. population.

To perform their mission, electric cooperatives:

• Own assets worth $82 billion;
• Own and maintain 2.4 million miles, or 43 percent, of the nation's electric distribution lines, covering three quarters of the nation's landmass;
• Deliver 10 percent of the total kilowatt-hours sold in the U.S. each year;
• Generate 5 percent of the total electricity produced in the U.S. each year;
• Employ 63,000 people in the United States;
• Pay more than $707 million in state and local taxes.

Compared with other electric utilities:

• Cooperatives serve an average of 6.6 consumers and collect annual revenue of approximately $8,500 per mile of line.
• Investor-owned utilities average 34 customers and collect $59,000 per mile of line.
• Publicly owned utilities, or municipals, average 44 consumers and collect $72,000 per mile of line.

Source: National Rural Electric Cooperative Association