Cooperative History
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, most rural people in North Dakota and the rest of the country lived without electricity. Power companies were convinced that they couldn't make any money by serving the rural countryside, so they declined to run power lines out to the country.
All across the country, including in North Dakota, rural people were banding together to help themselves by forming electric cooperatives. With the help of government loans through the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), electric cooperatives helped light the countryside. Two such cooperatives, Baker Electric Cooperative and Tri-County Electric Cooperative, were among them.
The consolidation of Baker Electric Cooperative (Cando) and Tri-County Electric Cooperative (Carrington) was approved in July of 1996. Both cooperatives operated as separate entities until Dec. 31, 1996. In January of 1997, Northern Plains Electric Cooperative was born. The first year proved to be a hard one, with record cold and snowfall. An ice and snow storm ravaged the service area on April 4-6 and caused over $3 million in damage, downing over 1,000 poles and causing outages to 8,000 accounts. Record flooding also plagued the area.
Geographically, Northern Plains is the largest electric cooperative in the state. It serves 8,167 members with 11,711 meters in a 50- to 70-mile-wide area from just south of Jamestown to the Canadian border. Thus, its service area is diverse and includes farm and residential accounts as well as commercial and industrial accounts. Fourty-two employees working from cooperative headquarters in Cando and Carrington, as well as several outposts all across the service area, strive to improve the rural quality of life by providing excellent service and community support.
On its 6,721 miles of line, Northern Plains distributes electricity supplied by Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Western Area Power Administration. It is a member of the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Northern Plains members provide input into the operation and management of the cooperative through a nine-member board of directors that are elected to three-year terms.
Northern Plains Electric Cooperative, like its predecessors, is dedicated to providing a reliable, affordable source of energy for its members.
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.
Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions. The elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives, members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and cooperatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.
Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation.
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.
While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.