Powering and empowering

The vital role of electric cooperatives in Oklahoma

“As a little kid growing up on a farm, we were kind of off the beaten path,” Congressman Frank Lucas says. “You knew the pastor, you knew the mailman and you knew the Northfork Rural Electric Cooperative lineman.”

Congressman Lucas represents Oklahoma’s Third Congressional District, the largest legislative district in the state, encompassing 32 counties in northern and western Oklahoma. He is also one of more than 523,000 Oklahomans receiving power from Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives.

Congressman Lucas is a fifth generation Oklahoman whose family has lived and farmed in Oklahoma for over 120 years. He can recall stories of his great aunt and uncle lighting their coal lamps every night, looking in awe at the electric lights in the distance in the town of Strong City, Oklahoma.

“Powering rural America is one of the most important investments that the federal government and co-op members together made all those years ago,” Congressman Lucas says.

The job of delivering power, whether from an investor-owned utility, a municipality or an electric cooperative is relatively the same. What makes electric cooperatives different is the business model.

Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives are not-for-profit utilities. There are 27 distribution member systems and three generation and transmission member systems. Every cooperative is governed by seven guiding principles: voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; members’ economic participation; autonomy and independence; education, training and information; cooperation among cooperatives and concern for community.

Each of these principles is put into action by policies enacted at the local co-op membership level. For example, cooperatives work together to ensure members’ power is reliable.

Oklahoma’s electric co-ops keep the lights on 99.99% of the time despite ice storms, tornadoes, wildfires, thunderstorms and high winds. To cope with emergencies, cooperatives have agreed to a plan that is essentially a pledge and agreement to come to the aid and assistance of a stricken cooperative called “mutual aid.”

“Restoration of power is more challenging in rural areas than it is in urban areas,” Chris Meyers, Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives general manager, says. “We come together and we assist each other in bringing power back on for our neighbors.”

The average number of active meters per mile of line is less than six, whereas municipalities typically serve up to 50 meters per mile.

One of those meters belongs to Mike Wilson, Central Rural Electric Cooperative member and owner of Yarrowhead Farms in Wellston.

“The one thing I’ve found with our electric co-op is they care about their members,” Wilson says. “Our co-op maintains a high-quality infrastructure, which is very important to us because we have coolers and heaters that have to run.”

Yarrowhead Farms is Oklahoma’s first and only certified biodynamic farm, which means they rely heavily on greenhouses to grow nutrient-dense produce year round. Wilson recalls a bad cold snap several years ago that downed a power line and took out all the power to their farm.

“It was in the middle of the night, and they came out, replaced the pole and ran the lines,” Wilson says. “It was around 3 a.m. when they were finished, and it was bitterly cold, but they got it done.”

Without the lineworkers’ dedication, Yarrowhead Farms would have lost a significant number of crops that night.

“The lineworkers are the power behind our power,” Meyers says.

Cooperatives serve 93% of Oklahoma’s landmass, providing service in all of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. Kyle Weber is a construction foreman for Tri-County Electric Cooperative (TCEC) based in Hooker.

One of the things that led Weber to become a lineworker was his fascination with power lines. He is also driven by his responsibility to his family, his wife and three kids, and saw a reliability in working for the co-ops more than any other industry. He knows that people will likely continue to need electric power for years to come.

“The number one value that we have as a cooperative throughout the state of Oklahoma, just working with other cooperatives is we value safety,” Weber says. “Our job is to deliver a safe, reliable power at an affordable rate.”

As he has worked his way up in the co-op, he continues to be a part of the community he lives and serves. From demonstrations in schools to community grants, Webber appreciates the impact the co-op has on every town served.

“It’s hard to imagine life without the rural electric co-ops in the countryside. Thank goodness we don’t have to do that,” Congressman Lucas says.

“But it means people like myself and those who care about the cooperatives have to be engaged and focused and remind everyone why it’s in the best interest of all in Oklahoma in particular as a whole, that they exist and continue to exist,” Lucas says.

To learn more about your co-op’s impact in your community, visit www.oaec.coop.