Co-op what are the benefits in working for one??

[Lizzy Bordon]

I am not sure I understand the whole Co-op thing. Seems pretty good but not sure what to make of a Co-op.:confused:

[Lineman North Florida]

To me the main benefit would be mostly working out in the country and rural areas as opposed to having to work in the city's and fighting all that traffic and at least around here what I see the co-op guys doing it's mostly a lot of single phase work, ie set a 35' hang a 25 run a service and make it hot, what we call gravy work, not that some of them don't do 3 phase work cause they do and I've run into some good hands that worked for a co-op.

[hotwiretamer]

To me the main benefit would be mostly working out in the country and rural areas as opposed to having to work in the city's and fighting all that traffic and at least around here what I see the co-op guys doing it's mostly a lot of single phase work, ie set a 35' hang a 25 run a service and make it hot, what we call gravy work, not that some of them don't do 3 phase work cause they do and I've run into some good hands that worked for a co-op.

Not all co-ops are rural. One of the biggest co-ops is Salt River Project in the Phoenix area. There not rural at all! Bigger than most IOU's

[rcdallas]

Biggest in the country is Pedernales. They have some load in some areas.

I liked the coop life. Less big company BS to deal with in my opinion.

[Lineman North Florida]

Not all co-ops are rural. One of the biggest co-ops is Salt River Project in the Phoenix area. There not rural at all! Bigger than most IOU's I was mostly speaking about the ones down here,I've always heard the 1 that serves my home is the third largest in the US, they serve 9 county's I believe, they have a few spotted areas where they serve towns but mostly rural. It's a big old country and I didn't mean for it to sound like I know all about co-op's all over the country.

[230kv_barehand]

Jackson EMC near Atlanta is huge as well (about 30,000 behind Pedernales) and they carry a ton of load as well. They also carry a lot of the Atlanta burbs as well like Marietta which is pretty big and a huge town.

Lizzy some can be a dream to work for, just depends on which Co-op you are looking at honestly.

[duckhunter]

I've always worked at a co-op. Over 33 years. I like the consistency in contruction. When helping a neighboring co-op after storm damage, there is a nice consistency in the way everyone works. In out state the co-ops all had the same safety rules. We tend to know each other because of shared training.

[rcdallas]

There not all the same in construction. Some might still use the VC5 versus the newer VC5.3a what ever the dept of agriculture moved all that to. GVEC I've heard keeps their neutrals about 8 ft down...I've seen some that run a shielded neutral where when I learned the spec book I don't reckon that was in there.

Still easy to spot out a REA line though. I think for the most part as far as the majority of coops is you'll work a simple system deal with a lot of single phase, live a simple life and you can get away with helping out the member more vs a major utility.

Now if you want to learn about banks of all sorts and work downtown environments with SF6 gas/oil switches, ATO's and everything else your not going to work that at a coop. You might get a little taste of some things but I really doubt it for the most part but you'll pay the price of having the headache of budget vs safety vs everything else.

With all this being said I want to eventually get back to a coop.

[dooghi]

I love my co-op job. Been here 20 years. Some co-ops are really rural and some are not, ours is, we have a lot of area a lot of line, three phase as well as single phase, we also have a fair amount of B phase. We have some secondary underground, in pipe and direct bury, that unfourtunatly needs fixed, and or replaced. We also have primary underground as well. I started as an app and worked on a two man construction crew if you can call that a crew, we had trouble shooters come help at times but we did build a lot of line. I am now a foreman of a three man construction crew and for the most part me and my guys with the help of the area men have rebuilt old number 4 acsr three phase to 4 ought acsr thre phase to the tune of about 25 miles in the last 2 and a half years. Most all of it with one 2001 ford f350 a 2050 altec on an international and a 1979 c-50 chevrolet wire truck, some small buckets on 450 fords the area men have and hooks. With RUS specs and ten foot arms for bird protection. Most of the distribution stuff I can do, from trouble to building and sometimes putting back together for a temp repair. One night a c-1 pole with a three phase bank wye-wye top burned out, bolt 4 foot crossarm upright to pole put pole top pin on it and reattach crossarm to that. Last for a day or if you get an snow and ice storm with 50 mph winds 2 weeks.God watches out for babies and fools, We have pretty good equipment even if it is old, safety is still a high priority and for the most part it is not an ***hole to elbow situation to get the work done. Do it safe do it right and remember our consumers see our work and they are the owners Take Pride.

[wudwlkr]

The main difference between Co-ops and IOUs is that Co-ops are owned by the people they serve. IOU's are owned by investors who demand a return on their investment. The people who are served by a co-op directly elect their representatives or trustees on the board that directs the management of the co-op. They are all local people who are all directly affected by the actions of the board and co-op. IOU's may literally have millions of owners who live nowhere near that utilities service area. They don't care what decisions the board of directors make as long as they get their dividends. If a co-op makes more money than is needed to build and maintain the system and pay off debt that money gets refunded back to the members of the co-op.

[Lizzy Bordon]

I haven't started yet but seems really laid back, computer system still old fashion, highest voltage is 12.5 and biggest thing is a Walmart complex going in. I am coming from 34.5 hot stick designs, mmanhole duct, primary metering, PMH switches, ect........it will be really laid back for me. They have very few factories, mostly a tourist ocean front area. I guess my biggest problem will be getting the poles to stay up straight in the sand vs water storm issues.

If you bring up Touchstone it shows multiple jobs across the states did not know if they were tied in together in some way. They show their D or T area across the entire USA.

My friends said their is something where you own a percentage of the coop and they get re imbursed once a year on their electric bill a certain percentage.....interesting.

[Highplains Drifter]

My friends said their is something where you own a percentage of the coop and they get re imbursed once a year on their electric bill a certain percentage.....interesting.


A Co-operative is Socialism in that production is carried out to directly produce use-value (to directly satisfy human needs, or economic demands) as opposed to being produced with a view to generating a profit.

[thrasher]

Cooperatives got thier start in what were Rural areas in the 1930's because the IOU's didn't see enough profit. The federal Government hired engineers that designed national standards, based on light, medium, and heavy loading zones. They also set different voltage standards. The design books include different options for some things. However basically you can move from one coop to another and as long as they use the same voltage and are in the same loading zone construction will be alike. I moved between Coops 20 years ago and even though I went from Heavy Load to Medium Load there was no problem making the transition.
Coops are different from IOUs because our owners (stockholders) are the consumers, and our Board of Directors is elected from our consumers. So the orientation is to build a safe reliable system thats built well and then maintain it to keep ongoing costs down. Saying that, there are lots of variations in how Coops are run on a day-to-day basis. Some are good old boy networks, lots will have multiple employees from one or two families who are in the second or third generation of Coop employees. Other Coops try to run like an IOU claims to run, as a organization of professionals. As for technology; its all over the spectrum. Some Coops were among the first to deploy SCADA at the distribution level, and percentage wise more Coops use AMI then IOUs.
Main thing to remember at most Coops: lots of people are related or grew up together, and most consumers know individual employees. If you disrespect someone they WILL find out.