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Show Currently fg Speaking! By Moon Lake Electric Asso. Inc. DO YOU KNOW WHO OWNS YOUR ELECTRIC COMPANY? You do!- But there are several types of ownerships among electric utilities in the United States. Private Companies supply nearly 79 percent of the customers in the United States. These utilities are owned by widely .scattered ..stockholders . ..who... usually live outside of the company's service area. Local Publicly Owned Electric Utilities serve about 14 percent of the total consumers in the nation. They are owned by the consumer they serve through local government, be it municipal, county, district, or state. Rural Electric Cooperatives serve about 8 percent of the electric consumers con-sumers in this country! Like the publicly owned utility, they are owned by their consumers. Because your electric company is a rural electric cooperative and is consumer-owned, you have a say in its management through the officials you elect. They are responsible for setting utility policies for hiring management to operate the cooperative to your satisfaction. As one of the owners of your cooperative, you receive "dividends" in the form of benefits: control and ownership of a vital service; responsiveness respon-siveness to your needs and desires; lower rates, because your cooperative is non-profit; community benefits through close cooperation with local organizations and local government; and better service because your interest in-terest comes first. |
