That's because the Cooperative is owned by the members it serves. These same members elect the Board of Directors, who in turn work with the Management Team to establish policies and structures that best serve the members. That's why you are seeing mergers, acquisitions and takeovers. Some RECs are merging, too, while others, like Allamakee-Clayton, are sharing employees, services and forming purchasing pools. Some say deregulation pits the little guy against the big guy.
Deregulation has connotations of a lack of regulation.
An open access electric market would no doubt lead to even greater regulation or reregulation of the industry. We believe there are special concerns associated with restructuring the industry, especially for rural consumers. Allamakee-Clayton is one of about 40 distribution cooperatives in Iowa. RECs located in each of Iowa's 99 counties, serve over 151,000 homes, farms, businesses and industries. RECs have an average of 2.5 customers for every mile of line.