Looking Out for You

South Plains Electric Cooperative is about families coming together as a community to build their own electric utility.

Local families forging a better life for themselves.

The same local families that were ignored by the other electric utilities.

These pioneers chose the not-for-profit cooperative business model because it was service they cared about, not profits.

We owe these pioneers a tip-of-the-hat for their vision, their resolve and their sound business judgment.

Last year, we paid tribute to our member-service vision as the Cooperative celebrated its 80-year anniversary.

We talked about our rich history and how, even today, the Cooperative is still a low-cost provider of electricity with unmatched member service and vital community support.

This year, we have three other history lessons to share with you.

These history lessons highlight how the leaders of South Plains Electric Cooperative protect your best interests in legislative and political realms.

We are your source for power, but we also want to be your source for information.

So the first lesson explains why, in the 1970s, South Plains Electric fought to protect the investments members made in their new cooperative utility.

 

 

 

 

And grow we did!

From 1975 to 1998, the Co-op grew by 54% to just over 29,000 meters.

During that same time period, we also joined forces with neighboring co-ops to form our own wholesale power cooperative—Golden Spread Electric Cooperative.

Owning your wholesale power supplier gives you control over prices and planning. It gives you stability and assurance that future needs will be met.

Our second history lesson revolves around what happened in the late 1990s when Texas was working to deregulate the electric utility industry. The investor-owned utilities and large industrial users wanted an open market for electricity providers.

Texans were already enjoying some of the lowest electric rates in the whole country, so once again, your Cooperative leadership jumped in to the discussion and worked tirelessly to protect members’ best interests.

Much of this discussion will seem familiar to you. Not because you remember what happened in the 1990s, but because of what is currently happening.

The topic of customer choice is currently being discussed in the Lubbock area as LP&L works to move a portion of their customers to the ERCOT market.

With the help of your Co-op leaders back in 1999, the areas outside of ERCOT were carved out of deregulation, and for good reason, as we’ll explain.

 

 

 

 

The third history lesson is being written as we speak with Lubbock Power & Light working to move a portion of its customers into the ERCOT market and the intent to provide customer choice.

While we don’t know what the future will look like for LP&L customers, We do know what the future holds for South Plains Electric Cooperative members.

Your Cooperative is responsible for powering the majority of Lubbock’s growth and we’ll continue to invest in our city’s prosperous future.

Your Cooperative, along with our two wholesale power supply co-ops, will meet your energy needs for decades to come at affordable rates.

Your Cooperative will stay committed to all of our local communities, supporting young people’s activities and charitable organizations.

Mr. Newton and Mr. Roberts, supported by the members on the board, engaged in the legislative process to protect the best interests of all members—our cooperative family.

Your current leaders, on this stage, will continue to work on your behalf, keeping true to our pioneers’ vision of a not-for-profit electric cooperative business focussed on superior, member service.

While we are talking about great representatives, we want to take a moment to honor a home-town boy that is a champion of electric cooperatives, but more accurately, is a champion of every-day people on the South and Rolling Plains.