Coop Prininciple #5

This article is the fifth in the series of the seven cooperative principles.

By reading this column, you’re helping Access Energy Cooperative fulfill the Fifth Cooperative Principle, “Education, Training, and Information,” one of seven guidelines that govern cooperative operations.

In fact, right now you’re holding one of your co-op’s primary
conduits of education and information, Highline Headlines. Through these pages we communicate directly with you, our consumer-members, on important co-op business like bylaws changes and director elections. We also share energy-saving tips to save you money and safety information that could save your life.

But we don’t stop there. We sponsor programs to educate youth in our service areas with electric safety education, energy efficiency and renewable energy education.

We also support student education through our scholarship program, and we send high school students to Washington, D.C., for a week every summer as part of the nationally organized Rural Electric Youth Tour. Youth Tour students receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital to visit historic sites, see important governmental buildings, meet lawmakers, and learn how our system of government works. See page 4 for more information on these programs with deadlines for applications coming soon.

Our education efforts extend to our employees as well. We encourage and support them in taking courses to improve on-the-job skills We believe well-trained employees are more valuable to the co-op and can provide you, our members, with the high quality of service you’ve come to expect.

We also sponsor safety seminars for our linemen, field workers, and office personnel. This education is vital to keeping our workforce safe and reduces costs involved with lost-time accidents.

Keeping you informed­–so you can vote for directors, learn to manage your energy usage, or understand how your co-op employees are working to better serve you–is one of our most important responsibilities.

That’s the cooperative difference.