A Co-op Month meditation on the relationship between our historic cooperative values and providing electricity today
By Louis Porter, General Manager
My family loves to recount the time when, at a young age and having grown up on a farm, I casually stepped outside and went to the bathroom off the front steps of the Adamant Co-op. A stone’s throw away —for want of a better measurement—there is now a sign commemorating the life of local resident Clarence W. Fitch, a Co-op pioneer and leader, including at Washington Electric Co-op.
It’s a sign I drive past nearly every day as I go to work at WEC, and lately it has made me ponder whether an electrical cooperative remains relevant in an age in which the sophistication and cost of the system of electricity production and delivery is growing so rapidly, and members’ needs are changing nearly as fast.
Recently, WEC’s Board of Directors, at my request, has authorized a change in how the Co-op deals with transformer upgrades. In the past, unlike most of the utilities in Vermont, WEC members who increased how much electricity they used had to pay a substantial share of the cost of upgrading the transformers that serve them.
This presented several challenges. It placed WEC out of sync with most utilities in Vermont, who quite reasonably view a transformer upgrade as an investment that allows greater usage of electricity ultimately providing economies of scale for all ratepayers through increased sales. Second, it put us at odds with some state policymakers who believe that charging for those transformer upgrades slows the adoption of electric vehicles and heat pumps. And, most important, it caused consternation among Co-op members who were increasing their power usage and, understandably, did not want to have that expense on top of their monthly power bill. It also made it difficult to assign the cost of those transformers when, as is often the case on WEC lines, one transformer served several households.
I recommended, and the Board agreed, that starting in January of 2025, those members who increase their electricity usage will not pay the cost of transformer upgrades to a maximum of 37.5 kVA. For context, the “base” transformer for many years for WEC was 5 kVA, as it is more efficient than a larger transformer and was recommended at the time by the state’s Department of Public Service. More recently, base transformer size changed to 15 kVA, in recognition of the increased electrical demands of our members.
Another driving factor was receiving word recently from the Rural Utilities Service, whose advantageous borrowing rates greatly benefit WEC and other cooperatives, that compliance with their rules requires a change in our approach.
But it was with very mixed feelings that I made that recommendation. Ultimately, I think that encouraging the usage of electricity to replace fossil fuels is of great importance given the changing climate, and I think that policymakers are probably correct that increased usage will benefit all Co-op members.
However, I can’t help but feel that this change runs counter to longstanding goals of WEC, including that those who cause the need for investment should participate in paying those costs, and that one of WEC’s primary goals is to encourage efficient and careful use of energy, including electricity.
It is just one example of where there seems to be an uneasy fit between longstanding cooperative ideals and the realities of running a 21st century utility. Reasonable people can argue over the benefits of net metering from an environmental standpoint, but it is hard to square a policy under which some members pay the cost of providing service to other members with the ideal of treating all members as equally as is practical.
So too with democratic control by volunteers of an organization as complex and technical as a modern electrical utility, even a small one like WEC.
Ultimately, I work for WEC because I believe that the principles like local ownership, transparent and democratic control, and a focus on community values and objectives is at least as important as the fiscal goals we need to meet. And I believe that even with the massive changes occurring in the industry, those cooperative principles still offer tremendous value to our members. It is just sometimes hard to see exactly how to make them fit together.