Sometimes there’s a fine line between cooperation and competition. That’s the case, at least, in the world of rural electric cooperatives, where friendly competition among cooperatives can support a greater societal good.
One example is the 2023 “competition” between teams from Community Electric Cooperative (CEC) and Prince George Electric Cooperative (PGEC) to support the Roc Solid Foundation, a Chesapeake-based organization that assists children and families fighting pediatric cancer. Employees from the two co-ops squared off in Ready Bag Packing Parties during which they filled backpacks with games, toiletries, clothing and other items that help families meet tangible needs during unexpected hospital stays.
While the team members enjoyed competing, they liked helping those in need even more. “It’s powerful to see so many passionate individuals – where you can really see their care and passion – come together to provide this need for these families,” PGEC’s then-vice president of human resources, Crystal Johnson-Smith, said at the time.
The dynamics that unfold between various cooperatives are worth a closer look as they – and their member-owners – observe Co-op Month nationally in October. In the electric sector, there are more than 830 distribution co-ops like CEC, and another 64 generation and transmission co-ops. Together, they supply electric to 42 million people.
Congress enacted legislation fostering the creation of electric cooperatives in the mid-1930s to bring electricity and an improved quality of life to rural America, where too often education and household income levels are lower than in urban and suburban regions. Structurally, cooperatives are private, nonprofit entities that operate at cost; they are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who participate in setting policies and making decisions.
Given their origin and purpose, the relationship among co-ops is highly cooperative, as evidenced by the many times that cooperatives provide mutual aid to one another to repair the damage done by hurricanes, tornadoes and other extreme weather events. Community Electric has provided other cooperatives with linemen to help replace and rewire broken utility poles 23 times since 2019. (See the page 15 article in the January/February 2025 edition of Cooperative Living for an in-depth look at the assistance CEC provided in western Virginia and North Carolina after Hurricane Helene decimated the region.)
“Electric cooperatives fill a huge void in communities across the nation,” says CEC President and Chief Executive Officer Steven A. Harmon. “I’m proud to have been part of the electric cooperative family for the bulk of my professional career. And having started my career as a lineman in Tennessee, I’ll admit to taking special pride in the hard work and long days that Community Electric’s linemen put in to assist other cooperatives’ members in times of need.”
Cooperation Among Cooperatives actually is one of the seven guiding principles of electric cooperatives. As articulated on the website of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the principle states that, “By working together through local, national, regional and international structures, cooperatives improve services, bolster local economies, and deal more effectively with social and community needs.”
Deployment of CEC’s employees to restoration efforts elsewhere is orchestrated by the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives, of which CEC is a member. The association’s manager of safety and training J.T. Jacobs, makes clear the priority status placed upon mutual assistance.
“We prepare not just locally or with our cooperatives,” he says. “We prepare with other states every year. We practice and prepare beforehand so that, once a major outage does occur, we can help efficiently.”
Since its incorporation in 1938, Community Electric has grown to serve more than 12,200 members. Over the past five years, it has added about 1,500 members.