The cooperative difference: Electric co-ops work together for Kentucky
Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives are 17 electric co-ops based in Kentucky and devoted to improving quality of life in the Commonwealth.
Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives own and operate a 60-acre solar farm just east of Lexington. Co-op members can license solar panels from the farm to get the benefits of renewable power.
What makes electric cooperatives different? Let’s take a look.
Co-ops are member-owned. That means they are owned by the same people who pay the power bills. So electric cooperatives are always looking for ways to cut costs and keep rates competitive, while ensuring service is reliable 24/7/365.
Electric cooperatives are not-for-profit. Their top priorities are keeping costs low and service as reliable as possible, rather than maximizing profits for a group shareholders outside of Kentucky.
Electric cooperatives are locally based. Each of our 17 co-ops is headquartered in the communities they serve. The employees, managers, directors and owners of the co-ops all live in those communities. So our co-ops care about their communities and take an active role in them.
The electric cooperatives serve some of Kentucky’s top industries
Our cooperatives promote economic development in their communities. Retaining and promoting jobs and investment are key to sustaining local communities, especially in rural Kentucky. So Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives work together to promote economic development. In fact, in 2021, they assisted on economic development projects that resulted in $2.3 billion in investment and 2,600 new jobs in the areas of Kentucky served by the cooperatives.
Spurlock Station is a state-of-art 1,687-megawatt power plant located in Maysville, Ky. It is the flagship power plant for Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives.
Together, cooperatives have the strength to meet challenges head-on. The energy industry is capital-intensive, highly regulated and changing rapidly. Together, the 17 electric cooperatives of Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives have the resources to meet and overcome these challenges. They:
• Own and operate coal, natural gas and renewable power plants, with capacity totaling over 3,100 megawatts.
• Maintain 61,000 miles of power lines, including high-voltage transmission.
• Serve 1.1 million residents in 89 Kentucky counties.
• Maintains assets of $6.1 billion.
• Provide jobs for 1,800 employees.
• Participate in PJM Interconnection, providing access to vast generating resources of a 13-state region.
Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives are:
• Big Sandy RECC, Paintsville, Ky.
• Blue Grass Energy, Nicholasville, Ky.
• Clark Energy Cooperative, Winchester, Ky.
• Cumberland Valley Electric, Gray, Ky.
• East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), Winchester, Ky.
• Farmers RECC, Glasgow, Ky.
• Fleming-Mason Energy, Flemingsburg, Ky.
• Grayson RECC, Grayson, Ky.
• Inter-County Energy Cooperative, Danville, Ky.
• Jackson Energy Cooperative, McKee, Ky.
• Licking Valley RECC, West Liberty, Ky.
• Nolin RECC, Elizabethtown, Ky.
• Owen Electric Cooperative, Owenton, Ky.
• Salt River Electric, Bardstown, Ky.
• Shelby Energy Cooperative, Shelbyville, Ky.
• South Kentucky RECC, Somerset Ky.
• Taylor County RECC, Campbellsville, Ky.
For more information about Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, visit www.togetherwesaveky.com. For more information about how co-ops are promoting economic development in Kentucky, visit www.DataIsPower.org
