Rising costs: Powering through pressure

By Hayley Leatherwood April 2026

Co-ops are keeping the lights on while keeping electricity as affordable as possible.

Sue Clayton believes in her electric cooperative.

The Marshall County resident reads Oklahoma Living closely each month and says she values the role electric cooperatives play in their communities. When the magazine’s February issue included advocacy postcards encouraging members to speak up for safe, reliable and affordable electricity, Clayton didn’t hesitate.

She asked for extra copies.

Clayton, a Red River Valley Rural Electric Association member, distributed the postcards to friends, neighbors and community leaders, encouraging them to share their support for electric cooperatives and the work they do in rural communities.

“I love my co-op and what they do,” said Clayton.

But like many Oklahomans, she has also noticed something else lately — her electric bill.

“The prices have gone up,” Clayton said. “It’s currently costing me about $10 a day to have power, and I’m pinching here and there.”

Clayton’s experience reflects a reality many cooperative members across Oklahoma are noticing. The cost of electricity, like many everyday necessities, has been creeping upward.

Electric cooperative leaders say they understand the concern. As member-owned utilities, they say rate adjustments are never taken lightly. But after years of holding the line, many co-ops say rising costs across the entire electric system are making some increases unavoidable.

Costs rising across the system

Electric cooperatives operate differently than investor-owned utilities. Instead of generating profits for shareholders, they are not-for-profit utilities owned by the members they serve. Revenue collected from electric bills goes directly toward operating the system and maintaining reliability.

But cooperatives face the same economic pressures affecting households and businesses.

Over the last decade, residential cost of kilowatt-hour has risen about 30.27%, according to the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives. During the same period, gasoline increased about 46.90%, ground beef rose 51.8%, postage stamps climbed 59.18% and fast-food French fries jumped 138.30%.

For utilities, those increases show up in the equipment and fuel needed to keep the lights on.

“Since 2020, vehicle costs have increased, fuel prices have risen sharply, and the materials needed to deliver electricity, such as poles, wire and transformers, have nearly doubled,” said KorDale Lornes, vice president of marketing and member services for Red River Valley Rural Electric Association.

After reviewing those pressures, Red River Valley REA announced it would need to implement a rate adjustment beginning Nov. 1, the cooperative’s first increase since 2021.

“We know any increase affects our members,” Lornes said. “This decision was made only after careful review and with our members’ best interests in mind.”

From power plants to the porch light

Electric service depends on several layers of infrastructure working together.

Generation and transmission cooperatives, often called G&Ts, produce electricity and move it across long-distance transmission lines. Local distribution cooperatives then deliver power from substations through neighborhood lines to homes and businesses.

Each stage carries its own costs.

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, a generation and transmission cooperative serving 21 distribution cooperatives, says electricity generation costs are increasing due to multiple factors, including rising fuel prices, growing demand and extreme weather events.

Demand growth is being driven largely by the commercial and industrial sectors, including manufacturing companies and emerging technologies that require large amounts of electricity.

To manage those challenges, WFEC maintains a diverse generation portfolio. The variety helps reduce exposure to market swings and provides flexibility during extremes, including seasonal and weather conditions.

Beyond generation, transmission infrastructure is another growing expense.

WFEC owns and maintains more than 3,800 miles of transmission line and more than 400 substations and switch stations. As electricity demand grows nationally, utilities are investing heavily to expand and strengthen these networks.

Transmission congestion, when power lines cannot carry enough electricity to meet demand, has become an increasing concern across the country.

Maintaining reliability close to home

For local distribution cooperatives, much of the cost pressure shows up in the physical equipment members see every day: poles, lines, transformers and trucks.

Many of those components are aging, while others must be upgraded to meet new demand and withstand increasingly severe weather.

Electricity distribution systems rely on a network of lines and transformers that step power down to safe levels for homes and businesses. Maintaining and expanding that network requires continual investment.

Despite rising costs, cooperative leaders say their mission remains unchanged.

“As member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives, we exist to serve our members — our neighbors,” said Nicki Fuller, CEO of the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives. “People, not profits, always come first.”

Fuller said cooperatives work to manage expenses carefully and keep electricity affordable while maintaining reliability.

“When there’s a burden on our members, it’s a burden we share,” she said.

For members like Clayton, electricity remains an essential service that is difficult to live without. Like many households, she is adjusting her budget as prices change.

Cooperative leaders say they recognize that reality and approach rate decisions cautiously.

“We’ve worked hard to hold rates steady while facing the same rising costs that impact all of us,” Lornes said. “But maintaining reliability and replacing aging equipment requires investment.”

For Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives, the challenge remains the same as it has for decades: keeping the lights on while keeping electricity as affordable as possible.

Editor’s note:

This article is the first in a three-part series dedicated to rising costs in the industry. Visit the Energy News Hub to learn more.