A new generation and transmission cooperative is open for business in Louisiana, where five electric distribution co-ops worked for more than two years on a power supply solution that cuts costs, offers flexibility and improves reliability.
1803 Electric Cooperative, named for the year the Louisiana Purchase was ratified, began serving Winnsboro-based Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative on Jan. 1.
Deridder-based Beauregard Electric Cooperative, Homer-based Claiborne Electric Cooperative, Houma-based South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association and Franklinton-based Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative are the other founding co-ops. They will start taking power from 1803 in April after their current contracts with a for-profit supplier expire. New Roads-based Pointe Coupee EMC has joined 1803 as a transmission-only member.
“Our desire is to take control of our own future and make power supply decisions that best fit our needs,” said Michael Marcotte, CEO and general manager of Claiborne Electric.
“We believe that forming our own generation and transmission cooperative will lead to several benefits, including more flexibility, reduced costs, direct decision-making control, more proactive management and an increased focus on reliability and affordability.”
Headquartered in Baton Rouge, 1803 will purchase more than 1,000 megawatts to serve about 120,000 co-op members.
The G&T, certified by the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 2022, engaged ACES Power, which is owned by 24 other G&Ts and a distribution co-op, to help with its request for proposal process for energy contracts.
“We got a very robust response: 20-plus unique companies with well over 100 different options for supply and structure,” said 1803 CEO Brian Hobbs, a veteran of the legal and corporate services division of Anadarko, Oklahoma-based Western Farmers Electric Cooperative.
“Just by virtue of running the RFP, they saw a 20% reduction in a bid submitted by their incumbent provider, and the portfolio that we’ve put together is still lower in cost than that.”
1803 members say they were driven to replace their existing provider with a G&T by a host of member-focused needs and challenges, including greater cost efficiency and reliability.
“There’s no problem we can’t solve, because we all work together to solve them,” said SLECA General Manager Matthew Peters. “We have the same mindset, values and view to always make sure that members of all the co-ops are getting the best deal possible in this ever-changing industry.”
Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.