By Darrell Marks

The last time you thought about your electricity provider may have been when power suddenly went out. Fortunately, seconds later, your local electric co-op already was at work restoring service.

Your local electric co-op works around the clock 24 hours every day, 365 days each year, to ensure safe, reliable delivery of affordable electricity. The organization also works with Wabash Valley Power Alliance or Hoosier Energy, the generation and transmission cooperatives that generate and deliver power to distribution co-ops in Indiana. Your co-op is even part of a network of more than 900 consumer-owned not-for-profit electric cooperatives that work with local, state, regional and even federal agencies that monitor and operate the nation’s energy grid (some agencies even work across North America!). The complex transmission system that delivers electricity to homes and businesses in your community includes:

DARRELL MARKS is energy services specialist at Kankakee Valley REMC in Wanatah, Indiana.