Co-ops in America

A powerful presence in America

Missouri’s electric cooperatives are part of larger network of member-owned utilities throughout the nation. Just as Missouri's electric cooperatives have joined together to form the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, the nation's co-ops are served by a national organization.

NRECA, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, represents more than 900 electric cooperatives which serve 34 million people in 46 states, providing power to 13 million businesses, homes, schools, churches, farms and irrigation systems

Representatives from electric cooperatives all across the country gather for an annual meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Missouri's electric co-ops are part of a large network which together represent the largest utility organization in the nation.

Electric co-ops serve 2,500 of 3,128 counties in the United States. We serve three quarters of the America’s land mass. Our 2.3 million miles of electric lines represent 44 percent of the nation’s total.

Despite this vast network electric co-ops serve just 11 percent of the nation's population and supply only 7.9 percent of the total kilowatt-hours sold in the United States. each year.

This great disparity between the size of our system and the number of consumers points to the challenge electric co-ops face serving sparsely populated rural areas.

Co-ops serve an average of 6 consumers per mile of line and collect annual revenue of just $7,900 per mile. Investor-owned utilities, on the other hand, average 33 customers per mile of line and collect $61,000 per mile of line. Publicly owned utilities, or municipals, average 43 consumers and collect $71,000 per mile of line.

Rural Electric Statewide Associations

Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives
2722 East McCarty Street, P.O. Box 1645
Jefferson City, Missouri 65102
(573) 635-6857

All materials on this site are protected by copyright
and may not be reproduced without permission