Y
ou do it every day—push a button to brew your morning coffee, heat up your leftovers, wash the dishes, dry your clothes, vacuum your house, or watch your favorite T.V. show, and the list goes on. But have you ever thought about what happens when you flip that light switch on? An electric generating plant, which
is likely not located in your neighborhood—and at times not even in your state—works hard to meet your household’s electricity demand.
WFEC’s natural gas-fired plant in Mooreland, Okla. Photo by Mark Daugherty/WFEC
KAMO Power’s Agra Substation. Photo courtesy of KAMO Power
The Cooperative Roadmap You pay your electric bill to your co-op every month, so it would be natural to as- sume that your electric power is generated and transmitted by this distribution co-op and then delivered to your home. But that is not quite the path your energy travels to get to you. Decades ago, when rural electrification
forever changed rural America, distribution co-op systems like yours decided they should band together to provide reliable and affordable wholesale electricity, in- stead of relying on other power generators, including investor-owned utilities. These cooperatives established generation and transmission cooperatives, or as they’re known, G&Ts.
A G&T cooperative is a wholesale
power supplier owned and governed by several local electric distribution cooperatives. They produce electricity with their own generating assets or buy it in bulk from other power suppliers.
Because electricity cannot be stored ef-
ficiently, and in most cases must be used at the time it is generated, G&Ts ship the power over high-voltage transmission lines
serve, members at the end of the electric lines have the assurance that their co-op staff and board of directors are genuinely invested in the community—because it’s their community too.
Powerline Technician Koty Pahukoa works on the Shawnee Line Crew. Photo by James Pratt
to local distribution co-ops like yours. These trans- mission lines are a part of the power grid—or if you will, a ‘spider web’—that interconnects the delivery of electricity from suppliers to consumers. There are several ‘stopping’ points (transformers and substa- tions) on the path electricity travels to finally arrive at your home. (Please see the graphic on Page 19 for an illustration of how electricity gets to you.) The point is, the cooperative roadmap begins and ends with you.
As a co-op member-owner, you have the unique privilege of having a voice in your cooperative’s af- fairs. Since cooperatives are owned by those they
Power to the People Oklahoma has 28 electric distribution cooperatives that deliver electricity in all 77 of the state’s counties and provide power to nearly 500,000 consumer-members. There are two G&T cooperatives in the state: Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC) based in Anadarko, Okla., and KAMO Power, based in Vinita, Okla. WFEC serves 18 member and one non- member electric distribution cooperatives in Oklahoma, four member cooperatives in New Mexico, plus Altus Air Force Base. KAMO Power serves nine Oklahoma elec- tric distribution cooperatives and is one of six G&Ts that own Associated Electric Cooperative in Springfield, Mo. In addi- tion, Amarillo, Texas-based, Golden Spread Electric Cooperative (GSEC) is a G&T co- op that provides power to the Oklahoma Panhandle, serving Tri-County Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Hooker, Okla., as well as 15 other electric distribu- tion co-ops in Texas.
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