Full Title: Affordable Electricity: Rural America’s Economic Lifeline
Author(s): National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Publisher(s): National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Publication Date: July 1, 2015
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Description (excerpt):
Affordable electricity is essential to economic growth in rural America. Public policies, programs and other factors that increase the price of electricity even a small amount impair economic growth and job creation. This study measures the impact of a 10% and 25% electricity price increase in terms of lost jobs and gross domestic product (GDP). It examines the entire U.S. economy and the area served by America’s not-forprofit electric cooperatives, labeled as Co-op Nation and vicinity.
Electric cooperatives serve 42 million Americans in 47 states. Electric co-ops are owned by the members that they serve, and own and maintain nearly 75% of the nation’s electric distribution lines. The economic health of electric cooperative service areas are tightly integrated with their surrounding towns and communities. The economy of Co-op Nation and vicinity accounts for this interrelationship by including all U.S. counties where at least 10% of households are members of electric co-ops.
In 2012, businesses and industries in Co-op Nation and vicinity required 34% more electricity (in terms of expenditures on electricity per dollar of output) than the businesses and industries in the rest of the U.S. This is due to a higher concentration of energy-intensive businesses being located in rural areas with affordable electricity. These industries include agriculture and manufacturing, among others and have a greater sensitivity to electricity price increases than the more service-based economies found in more densely populated areas.