CEO’s Message: You are the Cooperative Difference

August 2025

When you get home and turn on your lights or charge your phone, you probably don’t spend too much time thinking about where that electricity comes from. Maybe you know it comes from Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, but what actually makes that any different from a public or for-profit utility?

Even though we might not always realize it, cooperatives like ours serve an important role, especially in rural America. Homes in these areas are often so spread out that it might take miles of electric line just to run power to one of them. For a company with stockholders and profit margins to worry about, that isn’t a very cost-effective investment.

That’s where cooperatives step into the gap, bringing power to even the most remote locations. Founded by the communities they serve, cooperatives will always hold the needs and well-being of their communities as their greatest investment. To do that, all cooperatives are founded on and guided by seven core principles.

Voluntary and Open Membership guarantees our cooperative is open to anyone in our service area, regardless of race, religion, gender, or economic circumstances, who accepts the responsibilities of membership. Democratic Member Control ensures that, unlike customers of other utilities, our consumer-members are empowered to help guide cooperative policies by running for a seat on our board of trustees or electing others to represent their needs.

Members’ Economic Participation in the cooperative means our members contribute equitably to the capital of our cooperative. Our Autonomy and Independence is self-determined, meaning that SVEC’s responsibility is only to our consumer-members and doing what is best for them. This newsletter is an example of our fifth cooperative principle: providing Education on how our co-op and the electric industry work.

In recent years, we have seen the power of the sixth cooperative principle— Cooperation Among Cooperatives—firsthand. When one cooperative is hit by a major storm and there is too much damage to make repairs quickly on its own, cooperatives work together to get the lights back on for everyone much faster than any individual co-op could.

Last, but certainly not least, is Concern for Community. As members of the community ourselves, we live this principle in all kinds of ways. It might be the quality of the daily service we provide, working to bring new business to our area, or supporting important local events and drives. Our Youth Tour to Washington, D.C., and other community programs are some of the ways we live out this principle.

Ultimately, what truly sets a cooperative apart is you—our consumer-members. You built this system, shape our goals, and continue to set our path in the future. I can’t wait to see what else we can accomplish together in the years to come.