Investigate the electric co-ops

Monday, June 30, 2008 at 1:28am

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper appears to have hit a major nerve with the powerful lobby representing power cooperatives nationwide. For his trouble, he is getting publicly smeared.

During a Thursday hearing in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Chief Executive Officer Glenn English alleged Cooper is being investigated by the FBI for accessing the association’s Web site.

Cooper claimed he had a password from a whistleblower from within the organization helping him to get at details of financial mismanagement. Such suspicions are the basis for the Congressional probe of the co-ops as nationally few if any actually return excess funds to their so-called “members.” That is true of the Tennessee Valley Authority co-ops as well.

Hitting Cooper or any public official with such an allegation is essentially asking them to disprove a negative as the FBI makes it a practice of not publicly confirming the existence of ongoing investigations. Certainly, the FBI has in the past broken with that tradition when it has suited the Bureau’s needs, and they should be open and honest with members of Congress and the people of the Tennessee 5th Congressional District as to whether this is true.

From all appearances it would appear to be pure bunk from a quasi-industry that seems to be in the business of holding onto its stakeholders’ money as long as it can.

We would argue that if Cooper is going to be investigated — which we doubt — for working with a whistleblower then the entire cooperative system in this country should be the target of full-blown Congressional hearings. After all, Cooper’s allegations about the co-ops are quite provable unlike their industry’s charges about Cooper.

Filed under: City Voices
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By: JeffF on 12/31/69 at 6:00

Co-ops have hidden behind the folksy, rural image they have created for decades. They are notorious for higher rates, legally allowed fluctuating service, and super high salaries for officials. They elect a board of dozens of farmers which automatically dilutes the power of each representative.The well populated, recently developed, urban areas of a Co-op are used as a the cash cow to provide service to the farmers in far flung areas. Meanwhile those people are not proportionately represented on on the controlling board less they take over. Some Coops are cash rich with no debt. This leads to higher rates and poor capital-beneficiary matching.

By: dnewton on 12/31/69 at 6:00

Co-Ops are the best example of the government taking action on the problem of the private sector failing to serve the global public interest. Few people living today can remember that the electric companies would not serve the rural areas of the state because it cost more to serve the rural areas. It is just a fact that you can make more money on electrical service if all the customers are bunched up in a small space. If you did not live within a few hundred feet of a road, you could not get power. The government realized that electricity was worth more than what it cost and was willing to give subsidized loans at below market rates to get the infrastructure in place. People like me who are mostly against any government subsidy must come to grips with this rare and successful intervention via subsidy. The history book is still being written however and TVA and other electrical companies are beginning to furnish power to Industrial Development ghost towns that have been purchased by local governments all through Tennessee. We are up to 98 acres of empty Industrial Parks and every acre is calling out for power, transportation and other utility services in spite of there being NO CUSTOMERS at these locations.