Cooperative Living January 2016 - 38

MemberViews
In Cooperative Survey, Rural Residents
Say Reliable Electricity Is Paramount
M
aintaining reliable electric
service is the top
priority of
electric co-ops'
member-owners,
according to a new
nationwide
survey. The
findings come
following release
of the
Environmental
Protection Agency's
(EPA) Clean Power
Plan (CPP), which
could threaten the
reliability of the country's
electric supply.
The survey asked member-owners
of America's electric cooperatives to
identify the most important factor
regarding their electric service. Fiftyfour
percent of respondents said that
reliability was most important. Thirty
percent of co-op members listed cost
as their greatest concern.
Conservation and environmental
impact were third and fourth, with
9 and 5 percent of respondents listing
them as their top priority, respectively.
'When they
flip the electric switch,
they expect the lights
to come on - and
stay on - at an
affordable rate.'
" The member-owners of America's
electric cooperatives are clear
about what's most
important to them, and
that's reliability and
affordability, " said
National Rural
Electric
Cooperative
Association
(NRECA) Interim
CEO Jeffrey
Connor. " When
they flip the electric
switch, they expect the
lights to come on - and
stay on - at an affordable rate. "
The CPP has the potential to increase
prices for electricity and prompt the closure
of co-op-owned power plants with years,
sometimes decades, of life left in them. The
rule was finalized in August and published
in the Federal Register in October.
" The CPP could lead to increased
electric bills, which could handcuff rural
economies, " Connor said. " The hardest hit
by the plan would be the country's most
vulnerable populations, who can least
afford to pay more for electricity - people
already living on fixed incomes or in
MOST IMPORTANT ELECTRICITY FACTOR
poverty. It's important for our elected
officials to consider the potentially
devastating impact of this complex and
costly plan on rural voters and rural
economies. "
The poll surveyed 750 individual co-op
members during this past October and
November. Frederick Polls conducted the
survey, which was commissioned by
NRECA. The poll has a margin of error of
3.6 percent.
" For more than 75 years, electric
cooperatives have illuminated more than
three-quarters of the nation's landscape, "
Connor said. " As we work to meet 21stcentury
energy demands, cooperatives are
concerned about EPA's Clean Power Plan,
and the threat it poses to reliability. Those
concerns are shared by our memberconsumers
at the end of the line. "
NRECA is the Arlington, Va.-based
national service organization that
represents the nation's more than 900
private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned
electric cooperatives, which provide
service to 42 million people in 47 states.
There are 13 electric cooperatives in
Virginia, serving more than 500,000
homes, farms and businesses, and about
1.25 million Virginians. 
COST OF ELECTRICITY
Much Somewhat
36
| Cooperative Living | January 2016
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Cooperative Living January 2016

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