Recently, our new employees asked me what makes electric co-ops different than other types of utilities. This month, I thought I’d tell you a few of the things I told them.

Because we’re a co-op, we operate differently than other utilities. Bartholomew County REMC’s decisions are made locally, by directors who live right here in our community. Everyone who pays to receive electricity from the co-op is a member. When you pay your electric bill each month, your money stays here — to pay for the electricity used, or to make improvements to our local system to strengthen service reliability. The money you pay the co-op doesn’t line the pockets of shareholders. We’re a co-op, and we exist to provide a service to you, our local members.

You may notice that throughout the year, we schedule opportunities for you to attend co-op events, such as our annual meeting meet-and-greet and member appreciation day (Oct. 24), so we can meet our members. We conduct surveys to gather your feedback on co-op programs and services so that we can plan and adjust for the future. Our success lies in your satisfaction, which is why we offer these opportunities to engage with us.

Because you’re part of an electric cooperative, you can count on our team to maintain local jobs, at-cost electricity and first-class service, no matter what the economy — and supply chain issues — throw at us.

BCREMC is striving to keep your bills as low as possible. We want to help you maximize the value you get from our services and offerings. For example, throughout 2023, we have given back to our members monthly with a Wholesale Power Cost Relief adjustment to help offset the rising costs of wholesale power.

If you want to receive important information from us, such as outage and restoration updates and alerts, sign up for our text message or email notifications through our SmartHub App. You can also stay in the know with Facebook posts and this monthly magazine.

Please know that you — the members of BCREMC — are at the heart of everything we do. Co-ops adhere to seven guiding cooperative principles that reflect core values of honesty, transparency, equity, inclusiveness and service.

We exist to serve you and provide the quality, reliable, friendly service you expect and deserve. While we’ve grown over the years, we’re still driven by the same guiding principles to serve our community. We hope to see or hear from you soon. This coop was created for you, the members. The power is in your hands.