The value of informa T ion

I believe our members can handle bad news. What they can’t handle is no news.

Our nation is facing unprecedented challenges to the reliability of the electric power system — challenges that threaten the things we often take for granted. America’s families and businesses expect the lights to stay on. Sadly, as a nation, we are trending toward rolling blackouts becoming normal during extreme weather events.

While bad news can be difficult to hear, I don’t want to cause our members distress. But I believe our members can handle bad news; what they can’t handle is no news. I share important information and insights to help all of us prepare for the challenges we face together, because being informed allows us to make educated decisions.

Before I elaborate on the difficulties we are facing, I am reminded of our electric cooperative network and our history of excellence in providing our member’s reliable electric service.

Working for our members

As I sit here in my office and reflect on the work of our co-op in this community and the service we provide our members, we have so much to be proud of and so much to celebrate.

You probably know that you’re a member of our local electric cooperative. Tricounty Rural Electric Cooperative was founded in 1936 by this community and operates as a not-for-profit cooperative, meaning it is owned and governed by those who receive electric service from the cooperative.

As an electric distribution cooperative, we are responsible for the delivery of electricity, which includes operating and maintaining the local power lines, substations, and equipment on our system. We work hard every day to ensure our local delivery system is reliable through planned maintenance and responsive service to power outages.

However, we do not generate the electricity we deliver to our members. Tricounty joined 25 distribution cooperatives to form a generation and transmission cooperative that provides the wholesale power we purchase.

Purchasing power from a G & T

Brett Perkins GENERAL MANAGER

Because the electric cooperatives in Ohio are joined together as one mutual source of power, your service is more affordable than it would be if each distribution cooperative operated alone.

Buckeye Power, our generation and transmission provider (G&T), generates enough power for the 400,000 members of Ohio’s electric cooperatives.

Buckeye Power was founded in 1958 and is owned by the electric distribution cooperatives in Ohio. As a G&T cooperative, Buckeye is responsible for generating and transmitting electricity to its members. It owns and operates several power generation facilities, including coal-fired, natural gas-fired, and renewable energy facilities. These power plants collectively have a capacity of almost 3,000 megawatts.

Our nation is facing unprecedented challenges to the reliability of the electric power system.

Buckeye Power’s primary objective is to provide its member cooperatives with reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible electric power. The cooperative collaborates with its members to plan and manage the generation and transmission resources needed to meet the electricity demands of the communities they serve.

And to date, Buckeye generates and purchases enough electricity to meet Ohio’s electric cooperatives demand.

Connecting to a larger region

What you may not know is that you’re a part of something much bigger than Ohio’s electric cooperatives. We’re connected to a network of power companies across 13 states that work to provide the electricity that powers our life. This network is called the PJM Interconnection (PJM).