Members Invited to Celebrate Cooperative Contributions

Cooperatives are businesses wholly owned by the members they serve and designed to meet a community’s needs. They exist across a multitude of markets and industries, including food and agriculture, finance and banking, consumer retail, insurance, healthcare, and more. Electric distribution cooperatives like United Power were formed more than 85 years ago when farmers and business owners in rural areas of the country observed a need and found a way to meet it. Together, more than 900 electric cooperatives provide power to approximately 75% of the country’s landmass and make up more than 40% of the nation’s electric grid. 

This October, members are invited to join in recognizing National Co-op Month, a celebration of the contributions cooperatives make in our lives. What sets co-ops apart from their for-profit and investor-owned counterparts is the emphasis on serving members and empowering communities. United Power is deeply invested in providing resources to help each community on its lines establish their own unique visions for the future. 

As the communities United Power serves have grown, so too has the cooperative and its commitment to supporting those communities. The co-op has an active and visible presence in the cities and towns it serves. Employees live, work, play, and serve here. Their faces are recognizable on local chamber boards, at nonprofit fundraisers, and at fairs and festivals across the fast-growing communities in United Power’s 900–square–mile service territory. United Power puts money back into the community every year in the form of sponsorships, scholarships, and youth leadership development. 

The cooperative announced an increase of nearly $10,000 in scholarship awards in the spring and introduced two new lineworker scholarships of $7,500 each. In the summer, six local high school students were selected to represent the cooperative on youth leadership trips to Washington, D.C. and Steamboat Springs. In August, the cooperative was the presenting sponsor of the Adams County Fair, one of the largest county fairs in the country, in addition to supporting community celebrations in Fort Lupton, Frederick, Mead, Keenesburg, Gilpin County, and many more. 

While United Power exists to provide safe and reliable power, the cooperative is more than just your local energy provider. The co-op is Here for Good, supporting the economic development and prosperity of its communities and members.