Electric Co-op Today

Before buying a car, you take it on a test drive. That’s essentially what Bryce Hooper did with the Co-op Connections Card.

He liked it so much he kept using it to the point that his savings are now in the four digits.

“I would say between $1,000 and $1,500 just off my expenses,” said Hooper, a key accounts representative at Cotton Electric Co­operative, Walters, Okla. “And that’s not including the pharmacy discounts.” The tally includes personal and business expenses, saving money for himself and his co-op.

His experience with the Touchstone Energy® card began about two years ago, when he borrowed one from the G&T. “I tried it out before we decided to go with the program,” Hooper explained.

He travels to six states on behalf of a Cotton Electric subsidiary, which provided an ideal opportunity to test drive the card.

“The hotel savings—that’s where I saved the majority of the money,” Hooper said.

Impressed by what they saw, Cotton Electric officials rolled out Co-op Connections in April 2007. And to show that the card isn’t just for consumer-members, the co-op continues to make use of it. In March, Cotton Electric co-hosted a lineman’s rodeo with United Cooperative Services, Cleburne, Texas.

The co-ops used the card to save on a block of about 30 rooms. “You’re looking at 10 percent off of each room, and the rooms are about $100. And that was for two nights each, so we probably saved close to $500 over that weekend,” Hooper said.

Hooper made sure his family members have cards, which they put to use at places such as Sheplers, a Western store offering a 20 percent discount.

“It’s been a really good asset to have, not just for me personally, but also for the co-op on my travels,” he said. “We’ve had great success with our members using it, too.”

Hooper called it a “win-win.”

“The member is getting the discount,” he explained. “And being in a rural area, the small businesses that don’t have the money to advertise as much as they’d like are getting the benefit of free advertising and publicity from us.”

Tags: Co-op Connections Card, Consumer-Members, Touchstone Energy