By Colin Teague – 10/3/24
The Energy Co-op: Leading Pennsylvania’s Sustainable Energy Evolution through Innovation
Part one of a five-week series on cooperative values
October is Co-op Month, and to celebrate the cooperative model this year, The Energy Co-op will highlight important cooperative values and spotlight how we and other local cooperatives practice these values, serve members, and make a positive impact on our communities. First, let’s talk about cooperative innovation by exploring The Energy Co-op’s long history of innovation in the energy space, from group energy purchasing power and renewable energy supply options to energy access and industry education.
The Energy Co-op’s mission is to be a leader of today’s sustainable energy evolution. We work hard every day to meet our members’ needs by seeking and supporting novel solutions to energy challenges. The power of our cooperative model enables us to accomplish more together than individually, and we are proud of the many innovations we’ve brought to Southeastern Pennsylvania throughout our 45-year history. As a nonprofit cooperative, we strive for mission impact not maximizing profit, and our duty to meet our members’ needs comes first.
Innovation has always been an integral part of The Energy Co-op’s identity. The organization was founded by members of Weaver’s Way Food Co-op, in Philadelphia’s Mount Airy neighborhood in 1979, after an oil embargo caused prices for home heating oil to skyrocket. By purchasing heating oil as a cooperative, members were able to affordably and reliably heat their homes through a network of trusted suppliers. We continue to offer this service as homes and businesses navigate the energy transition.
In 1999, Pennsylvania’s electricity and gas markets were deregulated, giving consumers the freedom to choose their electric and natural gas suppliers. Always striving to innovate, The Energy Co-op took this as an opportunity to become the first independent Pennsylvania electric choice supplier to offer renewable electricity. This was an important shift in mission focus that put the organization on its renewable energy path. While many other suppliers have entered the renewable electricity market since 1999, we remain the only nonprofit cooperative supplier without membership fees that supplies renewable electricity in Eastern Pennsylvania.
In 2014, The Energy Co-op expanded into the natural gas market, offering Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), which allows members to heat their homes and businesses using landfill-captured methane gas. As hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” became a more common method of natural gas production in the late 20th century, concerns from the public grew about its sustainability and safety. Natural gas from the earth is a finite resource, and fracking poses the risk of contaminating groundwater, triggering seismic activity, negatively affecting air pollution through leakages, and damaging surrounding habitats and ecosystems. The Energy Co-op began offering Renewable Natural Gas as a cleaner alternative to drilled or fracked natural gas. Renewable natural gas does not require fracking and is more sustainable than natural gas extracted from the earth because it comes from human-generated organic waste. The capture of landfill methane reduces the harmful environmental impacts of methane, uses a readily accessible and otherwise wasted source of natural gas, and reduces the reliance on drilling and fracking. To this day, The Energy Co-op is the only renewable natural gas supplier in Pennsylvania! The Energy Co-op continues to innovate our energy offerings to meet members needs and lead Pennsylvania’s renewable energy transition.
As a cooperative, The Energy Co-op’s model is innovative in the energy supply space. While most energy suppliers are simply transactional businesses, we pride ourselves in being a cooperative, democratic community that aims to serve member energy needs and lead Pennsylvania’s renewable energy transition. The Energy Co-op is governed by a Board of Directors who has fiduciary responsibility to the organization and its members who come together at our annual member meeting to vote for board members and approve our bylaws which means accountability where there often isn’t any in energy supply or renewable energy. Being a cooperative allows us to continue innovating in the interest of our members and Pennsylvania’s clean energy future.
The Energy Co-op’s approach to education and member growth is another example of our innovation because adherence to our mission and service to our members comes first. We believe in transparency with regards to our pricing, operations, and finances; we price and market for long-term growth not short-term gain, we publish our audited financials and tax filings publicly, and we believe in educating our members and the public about renewable energy developments and changes in energy markets. We host periodic “Market Update” webinars to give members an overview of the current state of the renewable energy market in Pennsylvania. We also publish a range of content to help members navigate decisions about their energy needs.
To learn more about energy-related topics, check out our blog, The Current, our video series, In the News, discussing news and current events in the renewable energy industry.