WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD NEWS) — Electric cooperatives are working to ensure rural communities maintain access to affordable and reliable power, as industry leaders head to Capitol Hill to advocate for key policy priorities. National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CEO Jim Matheson joined us on Friday’s Market Day Report with the latest from their fly-in event in Washington.
In his interview with RFD News, Matheson discussed efforts to expand a USDA loan program that helps rural electric cooperatives modernize infrastructure and meet growing demand, noting the long-standing relationship between co-ops and USDA, emphasizing that these loans are repaid and help fund critical investments in reliability and resilience.
“What’s happening now is that demand is growing in terms of needed investments in the electric systems for rural electric cooperatives, and there’s a cap on how much the Rural Electrification Administration can give in a given year,” Matheson explained. “This is a program that makes money for the taxpayer because electric co-ops repay their loans, so I don’t think this is a heavy ask of Congress to increase the amount that USDA can lend to co-ops. But the demand is happening, and we want to make sure we’re investing in our systems for reliability—to make sure they’re resilient—because our consumers are counting on that.”
He also addressed the need for stronger disaster preparedness, citing proposed legislation to improve coordination with FEMA and to allow co-ops to invest in resilience measures before storms hit.
“Electric co-ops need access to FEMA funds to invest in advance, before a storm happens, to make their systems more resilient,” he said. “And there’s legislation in Congress that’s going to accelerate that program, which lets us get in front of it. Let’s not wait until we have the problem. We’ll still have some problems, and when we do, we need FEMA support then as well.”
In addition, Matheson spoke about increasing electricity demand driven by factors like economic growth and data centers, and how co-ops are working to ensure infrastructure investments do not negatively impact existing consumers.
“There’s a lot going on from an electric side because demand is growing so much in this country. I know the big picture is data centers and artificial intelligence, and yes, that’s a driver of demand, but there’s a lot of other economic growth that’s increasing electric demand,” Matheson explained. “We want to make sure we’re making the appropriate investments because we’re always looking out for our consumers in terms of making sure we’re reliable and affordable. But these low-interest loans from the Rural Utilities Service at USDA make a big difference in being able to make those investments.”
Realistically, he said, rural America is the place where those data centers are most likely to be built. While those major decisions should be up to those communities, he said it is also vital for cooperatives to ensure increased power demand can be met, and the onus is on U.S. lawmakers to create policies that protect the communities that welcome data centers.
“Look, these data centers are coming to rural America,” Matheson said. “We think local communities should decide whether they want to or not—we’re not taking a thumbs-up, thumbs-down position on data centers —but if a local community wants to do this, and the electric cooperative thinks it makes sense, we want to make sure we have all the best tools in the toolbox to make it where the data center pays their fair share in terms of the investment in infrastructure, and our existing consumers are not hurt by that. That’s really the overall policy goal—but it’s coming to rural America, and we want to be ready.”
He also highlighted the importance of the Fix Our Forests Act, noting that wildfire risk is expanding beyond the western U.S., creating new challenges for utilities managing power line safety.
“This is a big issue for us because wildfire risk is a big issue in this country, and electric utilities need to go in and clear their rights-of-way where they’ve got power lines. There may be a tree—we call it a danger tree—that looks like it’s dying and could fall over,” he explained. “We’re having a lot of trouble accessing Forest Service land to do that, and since we cover 56% of all the land in the United States, rural electric cooperatives have a disproportionate interest in getting this Fix Our Forests Act done. The House of Representatives has already passed it—we need the Senate to do it.”
Matheson said improving infrastructure to increase wildfire mitigation risk is no longer just a Western issue.
“This has historically been more of a Western issue—but guess what? This wildfire risk is everywhere now,” he said. “We’ve got wildfires in Georgia, and the highest-risk state for wildfires in 2026 is projected to be North Carolina. So this means a lot. It’s an important step for Congress to take—let utilities do their job to prevent, or at least mitigate, the risk of wildfires.”
