Frequently Asked Questions About South Carolina Electric Cooperatives
Have a question about electric cooperatives? Here are answers to some of the most common questions about South Carolina's electric cooperatives and the cooperative business model.
An electric cooperative is a member-owned electric utility. The people and businesses that receive electricity from a cooperative are also its members and owners.
Electric cooperatives operate on a not-for-profit, cost-of-service basis and are governed by boards elected by their members.
There are 19 consumer-owned electric distribution cooperatives in South Carolina. The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina (ECSC) represents 18 of those cooperatives.
Together, the cooperatives serve more than 850,000 electric accounts in all 46 counties and provide electricity to nearly 2 million South Carolinians.
The members who receive electric service from the cooperative own the cooperative.
Members elect representatives to the cooperative's board of trustees, which establishes policies and oversees the organization.
The primary difference is ownership.
An electric cooperative is owned by the members it serves. An investor-owned utility is owned by shareholders, who may or may not receive electric service from the company.
Both types of utilities provide electric service, but their ownership and governance structures are different.
A public power utility is owned by a government entity, such as a city.
An electric cooperative is owned by its members—the consumers who receive electric service from the cooperative.
The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina (ECSC) is the statewide trade association representing South Carolina's electric cooperatives.
ECSC provides communications, government relations, legal, safety, training and other services to its member cooperatives.
ECSC is owned by the cooperative organizations it serves.
Its current membership includes 18 independent electric distribution cooperatives, one materials supply cooperative, one wholesale power supply cooperative and one transmission service cooperative.
Capital credits represent a member's share of the margins generated by an electric cooperative.
Because a cooperative is owned by its members, margins remaining after expenses and appropriate reserves may be allocated to members as capital credits. The timing and method of capital-credit retirement vary by cooperative.
Electric cooperatives developed in the 1930s and 1940s to bring electricity to communities that had no access to electric service.
Residents in many rural areas organized cooperatives because traditional utilities were often reluctant to build expensive power infrastructure where there were relatively few homes.
Central Electric Power Cooperative is a generation-and-transmission cooperative that provides wholesale power and related services to South Carolina's electric distribution cooperatives.
Central works with its member distribution cooperatives to meet their power-supply needs.
The seven cooperative principles are:
- Voluntary and Open Membership
- Democratic Member Control
- Members' Economic Participation
- Autonomy and Independence
- Education, Training and Information
- Cooperation Among Cooperatives
- Concern for Community
These principles help explain how member-owned cooperatives operate.
