Last week, I had the chance to attend a media event and learned all about the electric cooperatives that keep the power on here in the Lowcountry. I got a behind-the-scenes look at how these organizations work and serve their communities — and I learned a lot. We talked about storm response, electric bills, safety, and got to check out some of the training equipment.
Here in the Charleston area, the Berkeley Electric Cooperative serves residential and commercial customers in Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties. Here’s a quick breakdown on how they work: An electric co-op is a not-for-profit utility owned by its customers. A member-elected board oversees operations, providing power at cost — and any excess revenue is returned to customers in the form of capital credits.
During the media event, we learned how teams turn work to get things up and running again. Did you know? Co-ops can work with other co-ops across the state and even around the country to help get things back online quicker. For example, several co-ops pulled together after Hurricane Helene — marking one of the largest power restoration efforts in SC history, bringing in line workers from 24 states, and the 11 SC co-ops that were able to lend a hand.
Fun fact: When there’s a storm and teams are working, it’s all hands on deck. Employees from other parts of the organization are called on to prepare meals. During the event, we ate a typical meal for lineworkers on the first day of a major outage response: chicken bog, lima beans, and peach cobbler.
One of the most impactful parts of the day was observing a live-line safety demonstration.
Photo by CHStoday
Team members also shared ways to reduce your electric bill without spending a ton of money on home improvements. They recommended setting your thermostat to 68 degrees in the cool months and 78 degrees in the warm months. Degrees add up — for example, in cooler months, every degree higher than 68 degrees could add $10 per degree on average, and vice versa in the warmer months.
