Wisconsin’s 25 electric cooperatives provide electric service to more than 263,500 homes and business representing nearly 600,000 citizens across many of the state’s rural communities. Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives also:
- Employ nearly 1,500 people;
- Maintain more than 50,752 miles of powerlines; and
- On average, serve 5.27 members per mile of line.
Wisconsin electric cooperatives also play a significant economic development role by providing both expertise as well as grants and loans to help start new enterprises and expand essential services in the communities they serve.
Nationally, there are more than 930 electric cooperatives that collectively own and maintain 2.5 million miles, or 42 percent, of the nation’s electric distribution lines, covering three quarters of the nation's landmass. They serve:
- 42 million people in 47 states
- 19 million businesses, homes, and other establishments
- 2,500 of 3,141 counties in the United States
- 327 of the nation's 353 persistent poverty counties (93%)
- 12 percent of the nation's population
Nationally, electric cooperatives serve an average of 5.7 consumers per mile of line and collect annual revenue of approximately $16,000 per mile of line as compared to investor-owned utilities, which have on average 34 customers per mile of line and collect $75,500 per mile, and publicly-owned utilities, or municipals, which average 48 consumers and collect $113,000 per mile.
Electric Cooperatives Are:
- Private, independent, non-profit electric utility businesses
- Owned by the customers they serve
- Generally, incorporated under Chapter 185 of the Wisconsin Statutes
- Established to provide at-cost electric service
- Governed by a board of directors elected from the membership, which sets policies and procedures that are implemented by the cooperative’s management.
