The power behind your power

You might be surprised to learn that your local electric co-op doesn’t generate the electricity used in your home. In most cases, your co-op does not own a power plant but instead purchases electricity from an outside source, then routes the power to your community.

For more than 800 electric cooperatives across the U.S., the source for electricity is a different kind of cooperative. Referred to as “G&Ts,” these Generation & Transmission cooperatives exist to help electric co-ops serve their members as reliably and affordably as possible. Their only members are local electric co-ops, so G&Ts are cooperatives that serve cooperatives.

Across the nation, 64 G&T cooperatives provide access to wholesale (at-cost) power at a better price than their member co-ops could obtain on their own. Most G&Ts go beyond the delivery of power to provide sophisticated business resources that would normally be out of reach for local co-ops.

Like your co-op, G&Ts are not-for-profit organizations that exist to serve the needs of their members. G&Ts generally serve all the co-ops in a specific geographic area and employ a team of experts in data, finance, engineering, economic development, environmental management and other essential specialties that electric co-ops need. The G&T operates behind the scenes to support their co-ops, and although G&Ts may be largely unseen, they operate with complete transparency.

G&Ts are the source for at-cost electricity that is generated elsewhere, then delivered to your local co-op over high-voltage transmission lines. Your co-op uses distribution power lines and transformers to then deliver that electricity to your home.

Most G&Ts maintain their own power plants, while others purchase power for their members on the wholesale market. Some G&Ts manage a combination of native power generation and purchases. Because a G&T buys enough power to supply all of its member co-ops, it has the bargaining power to secure significantly lower prices than those co-ops could negotiate by themselves. Regardless of how they’re structured, G&Ts help keep your electric bill lower.

Just as important is the work G&Ts perform in planning. The nation’s energy landscape is changing rapidly. G&Ts constantly study and forecast power needs. They consider how growing communities might affect the demand for electricity in the future and work closely with local co-ops when power reliability is challenged, such as times when electricity demand outpaces supply or after a major weather event.

In addition to obtaining the electricity local co-ops need, G&Ts improve and maintain the reliability of the infrastructure co-ops and their communities depend upon. By working with local co-op staff to upgrade transmission lines and deploy substations, they make sure the power will be there for members like you when you need it.

While your co-op may not own the power plant that generates the electricity you use every day, it’s part of an even bigger not-for-profit cooperative that aims to make your service even more reliable and affordable. As the power behind your power, just like your electric co-op, G&T co-ops exist to serve you.


Photo courtesy of Dennis Gainer, NRECA