The Cooperative Difference

By McKayla Kiernan, Communications Specialist

Electric cooperatives were established to provide electric service to primarily rural areas where investor-owned utilities were unwilling to serve, or where electricity was so highly priced, most residents could not afford it. Choptank Electric Cooperative was incorporated as Choptank Cooperative Inc. on Sept. 15, 1938, following the passage of the Rural Electrification Act. Its first 78 miles of line were energized in Caroline County on Dec. 15, 1939, serving 184 members. The Cooperative’s name was changed to Choptank Electric Cooperative in 1942. Choptank Electric Cooperative is owned by its members, who each have one vote in deciding which co-op members will serve on the Board of Directors. We serve more than 56,000 members in Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Because we’re a co-op, we operate a little differently than other utilities. Choptank Electric Cooperative’s decisions are made locally, by directors who also 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 five states away. We’re a co-op, and we exist to provide a service to you, our local members.

Another feature that sets our co-op apart from a traditional utility is one of our core principles, Concern for Community. We partner with local organizations like Wor-Wic Community College for the Pre-Apprenticeship Line Worker Program, and other worthy programs and scholarships. We participate in the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, where we take our community’s brightest young people to Washington, D.C., for a week-long immersion to experience democracy in action.

Please know that you, the members of Choptank Electric Cooperative, 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. If you would like to learn more about the Seven Cooperative Principles, please visit > www.choptankelectric.coop/coop-difference.

We exist to serve you and provide the quality, reliable, friendly service you expect and deserve. While we have grown over the years, we are still driven by the same guiding principles to serve our community. We hope you will think of Choptank Electric Cooperative as more than your energy provider, but also as a local business that supports this community and powers economic development and prosperity for the people. This co-op was created for you, the members. We hope to see or hear from you soon.