NCRA Competitors

The Nebraska Rural Electric Association (NREA) is the private non-profit trade association for 34 rural electric systems that provide electric service to consumers in most of the rural areas and many of the small towns in the great State of Nebraska. Together, the more than 1,000 dedicated employees of our member-systems serve over 249,000 meters across more than 87,700 miles of line. In the 1930s, rural leaders took on the enormous task of building the electric utility infrastructure in Nebraska that would provide themselves and their neighbors with reliable and affordable electricity. The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created by executive order of President Roosevelt on May 11, 1935 and NREA was formed in October of that year to help these early leaders deal with problems of standardizing line construction and obtaining wholesale power supplies. Over the years, NREA's mission has evolved to include a broad range of activities to assist our member-systems as they face the many challenges of providing low-cost, reliable electric service to the rural regions of Nebraska. Today, the quality of electric service in the most remote areas of the state equals or exceeds the electric service available in our largest communities. This achievement continues to be a source of pride for the directors, managers, and other employees of our member-systems. This accomplishment has not been without its challenges, and as we work through the 21st century and the challenges posed by rising wholesale power costs and possible climate change legislation, we will face many new technical, economic and political challenges in the future. Nebraska's rural electric leaders will meet these challenges and will continue to be guided by their customer's desire for reliable, high-quality electric service at affordable rates. We are confident that Nebraskans will continue to see the value in maintaining their locally-owned, controlled, and operated rural public power districts and electric cooperatives.

North Carolina’s electric cooperatives are a network of not-for-profit electric utility organizations powering the days and empowering the lives of 2.8 million North Carolinians from the mountains to the coast. There are 26 electric distribution cooperatives rooted in communities across the state, each committed to delivering homes, farms and businesses with safe, reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible electricity. There is a group of cooperative organizations in Raleigh that works for the 26 distribution cooperatives. This group includes: North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, the power supplier to the co-ops; North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives, the trade association providing services to them; and Tarheel Electric Membership Association, the organization that supplies the cooperatives with the materials necessary to maintain their modern, sophisticated systems. Each cooperative is independent and owned by the people, called members, to whom it provides service. Those members elect the cooperative’s board of directors, which is responsible for establishing the cooperative’s policies, goals and strategies. The cooperative difference lies in our history and structure as not-for-profit utility providers that put people first. This difference positions us perfectly to operate daily with a unique purpose: to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve and empower our members to take control of their energy use.

NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC's member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of State public utility commissions before the three branches of the Federal government.