CoBank

As rural America’s cooperative bank, CoBank provides financial services to rural utilities across the nation. Our customers include rural telecommunications systems, electric cooperatives, rural water and waste disposal systems, and other eligible entities. The bank also serves agricultural cooperatives and Farm Credit associations and finances exports for the benefit of U.S. farmer-owned cooperatives and American agriculture. The bank is owned by its customers. To learn more please go to their website at cobank.com.

Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange

Forty years ago, a group of Wisconsin rural electric cooperatives formed their own insurance company to create a stable insurance market for themselves. The company they formed (Federated Rural Electric Insurance Corp.) grew from a “self-insured” workers compensation program into a full-service insurance company. Today Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange provides a complete line of business insurance programs tailored for the unique risks of rural utilities. To learn more please go to their website at federatedrural.com.

Mesa College Hotline School

The Mesa Hotline School serves as a model for providing training for privately-owned and non-profit utilities companies. Manufacturers and consultants combine in a total effort to offer the ultimate in repair and maintenance of electrical transmission and distribution. mesahotlineschool.com.

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit private service organization of nearly 1,000 rural electric cooperatives, public power districts, and public utility districts in the United States.

Through NRECA, rural electric cooperative associations in Colorado and 44 other states provide themselves with a variety of services designed to better meet the needs of their consumer-members. Among the services are management training, insurance and safety programs, legislative research and representation, public relations, advertising, and member information. To learn more, please go to their website at electric.coop.

National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative

Members of the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) are vital links in providing telecommunications and information technology to rural customers. Nearly 800 rural utilities and affiliated organizations serve 48 states are a part of the NRTC family.

In 1986, NRTC’s founders had a vision: that rural communities across the nation would have access to the same modern telecommunications services enjoyed by urban residents. Today, NRTC’s members are meeting that commitment by providing affordable, cutting-edge technologies that directly link rural Americans to the benefits of the information age. To learn more, please go to their website at nrtc.coop.

National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation

The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) is a nonprofit financing institution that provides financing for its member rural electric cooperative systems through loan programs designed to supplement financing available to the rural electrics through RUS. As a cooperative, CFC provides these loans to its members at the lowest cost possible and under the most favorable terms and conditions in keeping with sound financial management. To learn more, please go to their website at nrucfc.coop.

Power Up Game

Power Up teaches users about the vital role electricity plays in supporting agriculture. It also explains how different resources have to work together to create a constant source of power. Click here to learn more.

Rural Utilities Service

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is a government agency within the United States Department of Agriculture which has the power to loan money to rural electric systems in the country. Most rural electric systems receive RUS insured loans. Every cent of an RUS loan is repaid with interest over a 35-year period. To learn more, please go to their website at rd.usda.gov.

Touchstone Energy®

Touchstone Energy® is a national alliance made up of more than 640 local, consumer-owned electric cooperatives in 46 states. Touchstone Energy co-ops collectively deliver power and energy solutions to more than 30 million members every day. Electric cooperatives distribute power for 75% of the U.S. land mass over 2.4 million miles of power lines.

Electric cooperatives were established to provide electricity to rural America and now make up the largest electric utility network in the nation. Touchstone Energy is the national brand identity for that network.

“The Power of Human Connections” is what Touchstone Energy® is all about. To learn more, please go to their website at touchstoneenergy.com.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is a wholesale electric power supplier owned by the 44 electric cooperatives that it serves. Tri-State generates and transports electricity to its member systems throughout a 250,000 square-mile service territory across Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming. Serving more than 1 million consumers, Tri-State was founded in 1952 by its member systems to provide a reliable, cost-based supply of electricity. Headquartered in Westminster, Colo., more than 1,000 people are employed by Tri-State throughout its four-state service area.

To learn more, please go to their website at tristategt.coop.

Western United Electric Supply Corporation

Western United Electric is a material supply organization owned by 37 electric cooperatives in the states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Nebraska. WUE maintains its own truck fleet and has the largest electric utility inventory and warehouse in the Rocky Mountain region. WUE was established in June 1976 to provide an avenue for the Rural Electric Cooperatives, in the Rocky Mountain region, to combine their annual material needs, and create the buying power necessary to obtain the best available material costs, and prompt shipments, from stock and the manufacturer.

To learn more about WUE, visit their website at wue.coop.