Help Us Shape the Future of Energy
In over 35 years of serving cooperative members, I can confidently say that I’ve never witnessed a time when the electric energy industry was more unstable. The current state and national energy policies, coupled with a lack of support for a better balance of energy-generating facilities, are reshaping the energy landscape to put electric consumers in greater jeopardy of being in the dark during periods of high energy use and severe weather events. The urgency of the situation cannot be overstated.
hope lessons are learned and positive steps are taken to correct course. As energy policy advancing renewable energy has progressed through the years, we’ve continued to lose access to energy sources that we can tap into at any point in the day when needed—also known as dispatchable energy resources. We’ve learned the hard way through watching the Texas energy crisis in 2021, as well as our own regional rolling blackouts on Christmas Eve of 2022, that when dispatchable, ready to use, energy sources are in high demand but unavailable to utilities and electric consumers, the lights go out. This can pose a life-or-death situation when temperatures plummet.
nize and meet the needs of your family and neighbors to provide affordable, reliable power to the communities we serve. However, energy affordability and reliability mean different things to different communities. Members living in smaller communities throughout America have different challenges than members living in more populated areas.
Your voice matters. Elected officials need to hear regularly from the “folks back home” about the issues that matter to them in order to make decisions about what is best for those they represent, their constituents. Only by communicating and building relationships with our representatives can we effectively influence the outcome of public policy debates that affect every aspect of the way cooperatives operate. With that in mind, electric cooperatives are working with our national trade association, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, on a new program to make it easy for co-op members like you to join the discussion and let our voices be heard. Let your voice be heart to impact the future of energy.
We invite you to join Voices for Cooperative Power (VCP), a new nationwide community designed to help co¬op members like you share your story with elected officials. We know that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to energy policies, so as an electric cooperative member, speaking up on issues that impact your local electric co-op sends a message to elected officials about the unique needs of our communities and their constituencies.
VCP makes it easy to have your voice heard on policy decisions that impact you because you can customize your experience by choosing the most important issues, from access to renewable energy to rural development, energy efficiency, the new EPA policies, and much more. VCP members will receive updates on those issues and, when needed, information on how to contact elected officials and government agencies on proposed legislation or regulations.
Joining VCP is quick and easy. Visit their website voicesforcooperativepower.com, or check out Voices for Cooperative Power on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram (@voices4coops).
With your input and support, we can do our part to help shape the future of energy at JOEMC and across the United States. Co-ops have democracy built into the fabric of our business model, so we encourage you to use your voice to help ensure that electric co-ops can continue providing reliable, affordable energy to members for generations to come. Take a moment today to join the movement!
