Membership Has Its Privileges
Why do we call those who purchase electricity from Access Energy Cooperative “members” and not “customers?” The answer is simple.
Think of it this way: some of our employees are members of Rotary and Kiwanis clubs. Our children are members of athletic and music organizations just like yours. And you’re a member of Access Energy Cooperative.
Service clubs have a common mission—together the club accomplishes more than an individual could. The same holds true for high school clubs; they pool resources and work together to help each member succeed.
Membership at Access Energy Cooperative offers many of the same benefits as clubs do, but with a big extra. You and the rest of our 6900 members own the co-op! That means we answer to you, not investors who’ve never walked our streets or spent time in our schools. This structure harkens back to our origins.
Access Energy Cooperative was organized by farmers and rural residents from this area in 1939, with support from the federal Rural Electrification Administration (REA). At that time, investor-owned utilities said there wasn’t enough profit to be made to warrant the expense of building power lines into the countryside.
REA offered low-cost loans for bringing electricity to unserved homes and farms. So folks began forming electric cooperatives to meet the need. A fee of $5 was collected from each family—making them co-op members and owners—to generate capital for borrowing. The rest is history.
Best of all, every co-op operates on a not-for-profit basis. Access Energy Cooperative doesn’t offer profits to investors—we return money over and above operating costs to you, our members, based on electricity consumption. Annually, electric co-ops nationwide return $545 million to members through this “capital credits retirement” process. When those retire, we give you a dividend check for your portion of the amount retired.
Electric co-op membership remains as important today as it was in the late 1930s. And all of the nation’s 900-plus electric co-ops in 47 states share a common mission: to keep energy safe, reliable and efficient, while maintaining environmental responsibility. That’s why membership matters.