The cooperative difference

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What do a Volvo S60 luxury sedan and a Samsung washing machine have in common? They’re both made in South Carolina by global companies that decided to do business here thanks to our state’s 20 not-for-profit electric cooperatives.

Volvo Cars (served by Edisto Electric Cooperative) and Samsung Manufacturing (served by Newberry Electric Cooperative) are just two examples of the companies that have invested more than $5.3 billion in facilities and created more than 27,000 new jobs in South Carolina since 2014.

Don’t be too surprised. Helping communities grow is what co-ops do. From humble beginnings electrifying family farms and small towns in the 1930s and 1940s, electric cooperatives have grown to collectively operate the state’s largest utility network. Working with their economic development agency, the SC Power Team, South Carolina’s electric cooperatives actively recruit new industries—the kind that create good jobs, support local tax bases and boost the entire state’s economy.

Co-ops are uniquely qualified for recruiting new businesses because they bring a personal touch to the work. They authentically promote the communities they serve as great places to live, not just work. And because co-ops are nimble organizations rooted in solving problems for members, businesses learn they can count on them to be responsive.

It was that personal touch that helped Samsung decide to build their plant in Newberry County. The Korean company needed a reliable electricity provider, but they also wanted a community where executives and employees would feel welcome.

Keith Avery, president and CEO of Newberry Electric Cooperative, personally answered all the technical questions about the co-op’s ability to serve the plant, handing Samsung’s leaders his business card—printed in Korean—with his cell phone number highlighted. He assured the executives they could call him, at any time, for any reason. Then he spoke from the heart about the quality of life in Newberry and explained how Samsung would fit right in as part of the co-op family.

“We’re selling the community as well as selling ourselves,” Avery says of the co-op’s economic development message. “We talk about everything from education to recreation.”

The first washing machines rolled off the line on Jan. 2, 2018. With two production lines now in full swing, the company is still expanding the plant, right on schedule to spend $350 million in capital investment and create more than 950 jobs.

In similar fashion, David Felkel, president and CEO of Edisto Electric Cooperative, personally handled the negotiations that led Volvo to build a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in northern Berkeley County—an investment of more than $1 billion that will create 4,000 new jobs by 2021.

“People in the community are tickled to death,” Felkel says. “They’re excited about the jobs, the future of the area and the quality of life that we hope to improve.”

Backed by all the state’s electric cooperatives and the resources of the SC Power Team, Felkel demonstrated to Volvo executives that a small cooperative could provide better rates and service than a larger utility.

The plant began producing S60 luxury sedans for sale in the U.S. and overseas markets in September 2018, and the co-op is already working with Volvo on the next phase of expansion. For current job openings at the plant, visit readysc.org/volvo.

In the coming months, South Carolina Living will explore more economic development success stories that demonstrate the cooperative difference—how co-ops market communities, not just industrial sites; how they brag on their friends and neighbors when they promote the local workforce; how they bring local solutions to local problems; and how co-op economic development is about bringing new jobs and industries to every corner of the state, not just selling electricity.