Electric co-ops are always looking for the most efficient way to borrow money. It is why one Wisconsin cooperative turned to loans backed by the government.
“And they set up that we could borrow money from the treasury at a good interest rate, and it’s a lower interest rate. We can access capital at a lower interest rate than the local financial institution. We still bank with local financial institutions and do some business with them, but it’s just about saving money in that interest rate with them. And it’s a good program for the government because we pay them back with interest. They’re making money on that. It isn’t a grant they’re just giving out, and then historically, our members will match that money. We’re probably talking 30 plus $1,000,000 of investment. Event that we’ll put into our system over the next four years and that maintains us kind of at a 50%. We borrow some and we put in our own capital as well. So that’s our process that we’ve used to maintain our co-op rates and the stability and be financially healthy,” said Jesse Singerhouse of Dunn Electric Cooperative.
Co-op managers say they have used the loans for anything from new LED lighting to upgrading power lines.
