Growth on our terms

Economic growth can bring new jobs, investment and opportunity to Oklahoma. But as our state prepares for some of the largest electricity users we have ever seen, one principle should remain clear: Growth should not come at the expense of the people already here.

That principle is especially important to Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives because the people receiving electricity from a cooperative are not customers. They are members. They are owners.

This summer, two significant actions reinforced protections for the people we serve.

Gov. Kevin Stitt ceremonially signed House Bill 2992, the Data Center Customer Ratepayer Protection Act of 2026, which creates safeguards intended to protect Oklahoma families, small businesses and other utility consumers from bearing infrastructure and utility costs created by large-scale energy users.

The Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives also signed the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, adding our voice to a commitment that developers of data centers and other large electric loads should bear the costs required to serve them rather than passing those costs along to existing members.

Why does that matter?

A single data center can require an extraordinary amount of electricity. Serving a project of that scale can require significant investments in generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure. Those investments also carry financial and operational risks that must be considered carefully.

Oklahoma welcomes economic development. Our cooperatives have helped power growth in communities across this state for generations. But good economic development should strengthen the communities we serve.

For electric cooperatives, that means a large new power user should pay its own way.

It also means protecting local control. Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives are locally owned and governed. Each cooperative must be able to evaluate a proposed project based on its own system, resources and the needs of its membership. What makes sense for one cooperative may not make sense for another.

That is the difference membership makes.

In many parts of our economy, being a customer means purchasing a product or service. At an electric cooperative, the relationship runs deeper. The people at the end of the line are the reason the cooperative exists.

When a cooperative considers a major investment, a large new power user or plans for future electricity needs, it does so with its members in mind. The questions are practical and important: Will this affect reliability? Who will pay for the infrastructure? What happens if the project does not develop as expected? What happens when the infrastracture reaches the end of its use? Does this decision serve the long-term interests of our membership?

Those questions matter whether a cooperative serves a growing suburban community, a family farm, a small business or a home miles down a rural road.

The attention surrounding data centers has brought these issues to the forefront, but protecting members from unnecessary costs and risks is not a new responsibility for electric cooperatives. It is part of the cooperative business model.

Oklahoma has an opportunity to grow. We should pursue that opportunity thoughtfully and responsibly.

And as we do, Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives will continue to advocate for a simple principle: New development should bring value to our communities, not shift its costs to the families, farms and businesses already calling them home.

That is why being a member, not simply a customer, matters.

By Nicki Fuller

General Manager | Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives