You're an owner of a successful energy business

As a member of a cooperative, you are also an owner of your company. You have a voice in the operation of your not-for-profit organization through the elected representatives to the cooperative board of directors. The board of directors hires the president/CEO, who in turn hires other employees to run the day-to-day operation of the business. Because the directors are members of the cooperative themselves, they live with the rates and policies that they set. Their decisions are made in the best interest of the cooperative. These representatives are your neighbors, and they are also directly affected by the decisions that are made to carry out the business of the cooperative.

As an owner, you share in the success of the cooperative through dividends or capital credits. You receive the dividend based on the business that you've done (electric energy purchased) with the cooperative.

Competitive energy rates are another benefit of being part of an electric cooperative. The rates and service fees set by your cooperative are cost-based, providing you the lowest prices to deliver that service or product. MiEnergy has several programs designed to help you reduce your energy costs by utilizing off-peak electricity.

In addition to providing assistance for selecting your new heating and cooling system, your electric cooperative also has rebates to help reduce the cost of installing your new high efficiency electric system. One of the greatest assets that you have available as a cooperative member is the accessibility to local professionals. Personal service from someone you can trust. That's your electric cooperative.

Touchstone Energy® helps its member cooperatives strengthen their relationships with their members.

Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives is a national network of electric cooperatives across 46 states that provides resources and leverages partnerships to help member cooperatives and their employees better engage and serve their members. By working together, Touchstone Energy cooperatives stand as a source of power and information to their 32 million member-owners every day.

Electric cooperatives were originally established to provide electricity to rural America. Now co-op territories have expanded into suburban and some urban areas of the country, which makes electric co-ops the largest electric utility network in the nation. Despite this growth, your local Touchstone Energy cooperative is owned and operated by the members it serves, giving everyone in your community a democratic voice in how the co-op is run.

Community-friendly values mixed with the cooperative business model are what make electric co-ops strong. As a not-for-profit entity, members know they can trust their electric co-op, because it was created to deliver on the promise of providing safe, reliable and affordable electricity to member-owners – not to generate money for shareholders.

What Makes Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Different

Touchstone Energy is the national brand identity for the extensive electric cooperative network. All members exemplify high standards of service because they uphold the four core values of integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. Touchstone Energy co-ops simply put members first and always have a local, member-driven, community focused vision. 

Across the country, local Touchstone Energy co-ops work to improve members’ quality of life by taking a leadership role in community and economic development projects, forging strong partnerships with business members, as well as generously donating time, energy and resources to their local communities. The Touchstone Energy logo means the cooperative understands the power of human connections and is the power of a national network, working in your neighborhood.

Touchstone Energy Cooperatives are:

  • Part of the largest electric utility network in the nation
  • Total more than 700 local systems in 46 states
  • Serve more than 30.5 million distribution cooperative member-owners
  • Serve nearly 40 generation and transmission cooperatives