Finding a leader in Appalachian Electric Cooperative

Appalachian Electric Cooperative and the way forward for utilities in the region

As one rural electric cooperative in Appalachia expands clean energy and technology, other utilities in the region can learn from its example of leadership.

Appalachian Electric Cooperative is like many other utilities in the region: it serves relatively few customers, and it was created to provide electricity to underserved areas of Appalachia that for-profit companies would dare not touch. Today, though, Appalachian Electric is making decisions that set it apart.

Seventy-five years after being established, Appalachian Electric Cooperative is launching a community solar program, conducting a feasibility study for fiber optic internet and leading the way forward for rural energy efficiency programs in Tennessee. In other words, this small co-op is proving that East Tennessee has what it takes to be an energy leader in Appalachia!

The community solar project is partially funded by one of two grants TVA recently awarded for community solar development. The co-op will utilize 9,468 photovoltaic panels to produce 1.4 megawatts of electricity — enough to power an estimated 115 homes for a year. This is especially important because the average poverty rate in Appalachian Electric’s service area is almost 20 percent and the median household income that’s 30 percent below the national average.

For rural communities that share some of the socioeconomic challenges we see in other parts of the region, it’s difficult to imagine a renewable energy revolution without this kind of leadership and upfront investment.

Appalachian Voices has been focusing on energy efficiency as a first step to ready the region for the new energy economy. The Southeast in particular has 29 percent of the nation’s energy efficiency potential. Put another way, we’re wasting a lot of energy — and we’re paying for it. Appalachian Electric is leading the way by providing free energy audits and developing new energy efficiency programs to help its members reduce their bills.

Appalachian Electric recently celebrated its 75th Anniversary with more than 1,000 of its members. When is the last time you partied down with your utility? As it says in its membership materials, “ … the Co-op is the people it serves. The members are the owners, plain and simple.”

While not every utility is a cooperative, the Southeast has almost half of the electric cooperatives in the nation providing us the best kind of power – people power!

Appalachian Voices is working with the state of Tennessee to establish on-bill financing so that people can afford efficiency improvements and pay for them through a portion of their energy savings. Read more about our Energy Savings for Appalachia program and on-bill financing here.

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