“Re:Member” we exist to serve you

By Nicki Fuller October 2026

During National Cooperative Month, OAEC’s new Re:Member campaign invites Oklahomans to take a closer look at what membership means.

Every October, National Cooperative Month gives us an opportunity to celebrate a business model built around people. For electric cooperatives, that begins with one distinction: Those receiving service are members, not customers.

That difference is at the heart of Re:Member, a new statewide campaign created by the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives. Its name offers an invitation and a reminder. Re:Member asks us to look again at what membership means and recognize the purpose behind the cooperative way of doing business.

A customer purchases a service. An electric cooperative member has a voice in an organization created to serve the people and communities along its lines. Members elect local boards, share in the cooperative’s success and help shape decisions grounded in needs.

That purpose reaches far beyond delivering electricity. Across Oklahoma, electric cooperatives invest in students, strengthen economic development, support community organizations and step forward when neighbors face hardship. They advocate for reliable, affordable power and work to ensure rural Oklahoma has a voice in decisions that affect its future.

These efforts are rooted in the seven cooperative principles. Re:Member will bring those principles off the page by showing how they guide the work cooperatives do every day. From democratic member control and education to concern for community, each principle reflects a promise: Everything a cooperative does begins with its members in mind.

Our statewide association represents 27 distribution cooperatives and three generation and transmission cooperatives serving more than 1.1 million Oklahomans. Each cooperative is locally led and connected to the communities it serves, but all share the same member-first purpose.

During National Cooperative Month, I invite you to Re:Member what makes your cooperative different. Look for the stories we will share and the people whose lives reflect the strength of this model. Ask questions, attend your annual meeting and make your voice heard.

Electric cooperatives were built by people who understood that communities can accomplish more together. That remains true today. Membership is more than receiving power. It is belonging to something created by neighbors, guided by values and committed to a stronger future for rural Oklahoma.