October is National Cooperative Month. Indiana Connection is published by Indiana Electric Cooperatives, which is the service organization for our state’s member-owned electric co-ops. If you’re receiving this magazine, you are probably a co-op member.

It’s easy to think of your co-op as just an electric company, but as I’ve learned over the last 10 months as editor, it is so much more than that.

Co-ops operate according to seven cooperative principles, which include:

• Voluntary and Open Membership
• Democratic Member Control
• Members’ Economic Participation
• Autonomy and Independence
• Education, Training, and Information
• Cooperation Among Cooperatives
• Concern for Community

 These principles are the main reason that your co-op is different from a for-profit electric company. Unlike other electric companies, your co-op never takes in a profit. It only uses enough funds to power your electricity and returns the rest as capital credits.

I have been most impressed with how the co-ops take the “Concern for Community” principle seriously. From Operation Round Up to scholarships, Camp Kilowatt, and Youth Tour, the co-ops make a concerted effort to support their local communities. Those programs can make a huge difference in people’s lives.

It’s common practice for companies to be all about profits and competing with others. Indiana’s electric co-ops strive to be more than that and do some good along the way. That’s something to celebrate.