Electric Co-op Today

North Dakota’s rural electric cooperatives believe strongly in being good corporate citizens and community leaders in the service territories in which they deliver electric power.

Dennis Hill

Commitment to community is one of the four core values practiced by rural electric cooperatives in the state as Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives. This commitment is a long-held belief of electric cooperatives.

In 1961, for example, the founders of Basin Electric Power Cooperative adopted nine guiding principles for the regional power supply cooperative they were about to form. Two of those ideals related to the connection between providing electric service and quality of life in rural America.

One ideal reads: “We believe an adequate supply of affordable electricity is vital for growing a vibrant economy and supporting a good standard of living.”

Another reads: “We believe we should support the development of commercial and industrial businesses in our region.”

The North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives’ board and membership recommitted to these ideals when adopting a mission statement that contains five purposes. One of them reads: “To add new wealth to the economy by creating, retaining and expanding rural cooperatives and other primary sector business enterprises.”

To back up this belief, the state’s RECs partnered with several telephone cooperatives in 1994 to start a development center focused on helping farmers form cooperatives to add value to agricultural commodities grown in the state.

Today the state’s RECs and rural telephone cooperatives continue that commitment to cooperative development, while expanding the focus to include creating, retaining and expanding rural businesses and to overall community sustainability and development.

RECs and RTCs have access to several community and economic development tools that have been used with great success. One of the more important ones is a program offered by the Rural Utilities Service called the Rural Economic Development Loan & Grant program.

With this program, RECs and RTCs can apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for zero-interest loans and grants, which can then be invested in qualifying business and community development projects in their trade areas.

Since this program was started in 1990, more than $23 million in these loans and grants has been made to more than 90 North Dakota projects, resulting in the creation of about 1,300 jobs.

Over the years, the strength of North Dakota’s small communities has been greatly enhanced with these programs. There are dozens of examples across the state where the RECs or RTCs have taken leadership to make their communities and local economies stronger, both through investment in utility infrastructure or community and economic development.

This demonstrates that the success of our RECs and RTCs goes hand-in-hand with a strong economy and thriving communities.

Dennis Hill is executive vice president and general manager of the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives.

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Tags: Co-op Voices, Community Development, Rural Economic Development