Over the coming months, I’ll discuss how the cooperative principles influence decisions we make as a cooperative. We begin with the first principle: Voluntary and Open Membership.
Traditionally, this principle has meant that anyone within a cooperative’s service area who meets the requirements for service can become a member.
When electric cooperatives were first established in the 1930’s, their purpose was bringing electricity to rural homes and farms. Indoor lighting was considered cutting-edge technology, and electrification transformed daily life across rural America.
Voluntary and Open Membership still means providing electric service to everyone we are obligated to serve. What has changed is the environment in which we fulfill that commitment.
The generation that remembers “when the lights came on” is becoming smaller. In its place are generations with different expectations, different technologies and different relationships with their utility. At the same time, new industries, technological developments and large electrical loads are changing the cooperative landscape.
When I was a co-op student at Pioneer Electric in 1977, we served about 13,000 members. Nearly 50 years later, we still serve about 13,000 members. At first glance, it appears little has changed. In reality, almost everything has.
Residential members account for approximately 75 percent of our membership and 84 percent of our energy sales. As energy needs evolve, cooperative leaders must consider not only the number of members we serve, but also how electricity is used across the system.
New homes, businesses and industries create additional energy sales that help spread the fixed costs of operating the electric system across more kilowatt-hours, benefiting the membership as a whole.
Open membership today requires us to ask broader questions. Who are our future members? What types of growth strengthen the cooperative while benefiting existing members? How do we balance new growth with our responsibility to provide affordable, reliable service?
The first cooperative principle continues to remind us that our mission begins with serving people. Fulfilling that mission requires thoughtful planning, responsible growth and a continued commitment to fairness for every member.