As technologies progress, I find myself more and more dependent upon the younger people around me. They seem to be adept not only at understanding the newest gadgets and tools but also at teaching those of us on the other side of the generation gap how to use them—as long as we are willing to learn.
This situation must have always been the case. More than a few decades ago, my mom was one of those young people. In the 1950s, she and other home economics majors at Winthrop University (they were part of the Blue Line but that’s a story for another day) were enlisted to help local electric cooperatives provide a valuable service: teaching their members how to use their new electric appliances.
At the time, rural people were still transitioning from the wood stoves that their grandparents used to the newfangled plug-in kind. It could be an intimidating switch.
Co-ops didn’t just teach their members how to use these electric appliances. They offered favorable financing programs to help their members buy them. Then they delivered the appliances to members’ homes and explained how to use them.
You see, even in those early days of rural electrification, electric co-ops knew their members deserved more than electricity. They deserved better, easier lives.
Co-ops didn’t just string wires and poles across the countryside, hook their members up to power for the first time, and call it a day. Instead, they introduced programs and appliances that helped improve their members’ quality of life.
That work continues today.
Take, for example, Santee Electric Cooperative’s “Call Them Before They Call Us” initiative. When an HVAC system or water heater is acting up, those appliances can drastically and rapidly increase energy use—all without the homeowner realizing something is wrong. These problems can wreak havoc on a member’s power bill. But thanks to new technologies, Santee Electric can detect unusual spikes in energy usage by a member and alert them in real time. The initiative enables members to address those problems before they get out of hand—without having to experience the sticker shock of a sky-high power bill.
On the other side of the state, Aiken Electric Cooperative is one of several South Carolina co-ops that empower their members with a program called Help My House. This initiative, which South Carolina co-ops piloted before it became a nationwide program, helps members reduce their power bills by up to 35% by making their homes more energy efficient. Aiken Electric provides its members with guidance and low-interest loans for home upgrades. Members have used the program to install new HVAC systems and weatherize their homes, improvements that generate enough cost savings to pay for the loans.
More recently, electric co-ops across the state have embraced broadband expansion to improve their members’ lives.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians in rural areas lacked adequate internet service, electric co-ops like Mid-Carolina Electric and Newberry Electric had already begun bringing fiber-optic broadband to their members. Other electric cooperatives in South Carolina have followed suit. Some, such as Tri-County Electric, even offer their members support with connecting and operating the devices in their homes.
Just as they did with electricity in the early 20th century, these co-ops helped connect rural people to a necessary service they had long been denied. As a result, co-op members across the state are much happier, and South Carolina has rocketed up the national rankings for high-speed internet access.
Electric cooperatives are governed by seven principles, including one called “Concern for Community.” This means co-ops are dedicated to supporting education, investing in young people, helping those in need, developing local workforces, assisting veterans and senior citizens, and countless other causes. When electric cooperatives first brought power to rural communities, they also brought a new standard for quality of life. And they have found creative ways to raise that standard ever since, all while providing their primary service— electricity—safely, reliably and affordably.
I’m proud to say that as long as there are electric cooperatives, there will be champions in local communities who are constantly looking for new ways to improve the lives of their neighbors.
Mike Couick is president and CEO of The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc., the statewide association of not-for-profit electric cooperatives.