The Dakota Electric Association delivers electricity to residents of southeastern Minnesota, the Gopher State , so they don't have to burrow underground for those long, cold winters. The member-owned utility serves more than 100,000 customers in portions of Dakota, Goodhue, Rice, and Scott counties south of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The co-op gets its power wholesale from transmission cooperative Great River Energy and distributes it over 3,720 miles of power lines, nearly two-thirds of which are buried. Dakota Electric is pushing energy efficiency programs and products to help save its customers money.

Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (WCNOC) helps to sate the energy hunger of the US public. The nuclear plant operator is in charge of the Wolf Creek Generating Station in Kansas, which houses a four-loop pressurized water reactor that generates about 1,200 MW of electricity (enough to power some 800,000 homes). WCNOC is joint venture between Westar Energy, which owns a 47% stake, Great Plains Energy (which through subsidiary Kansas City Power & Light owns 47%), and Kansas Electric Power Cooperative, 6%. Its job description is to operate, maintain, repair, and eventually decommission the Wolf Creek Generating Station.

Great River Energy powers up cooperatives along the Great River Road. The utility provides wholesale electricity to more than 1.7 million people (at more than 639,000 homes, businesses, and farms) through 28 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It operates more than 4,500 miles of transmission lines and has more than 2,800 MW of capacity from fossil-fueled, hydroelectric, and renewable power generation facilities. The company also owns or partially owns more than 100 transmission substations. Great River Energy is the #2 electric utility in Minnesota, in terms of generating capacity, and one of the top five largest generation and transmission cooperatives in the US (based on assets).

United Pumping Services provides hazardous and nonhazardous waste removal and remediation services. Its fleet of equipment includes truck-mounted pumps for sewer and storm drain cleaning, tankers for hauling liquid waste, and roll-off containers for solid waste. Services include dredging, hazardous material transportation, 24-hour spill response, demolition, above- and below-ground storage tank removal, sewer cleaning, and storm drain maintenance. The company operates primarily in Southern California. United Pumping Services was founded in 1970.

Florida Municipal Power Agency doesn't believe in holding on to power. The non-profit public agency generates and supplies electric power to 30 county or municipally owned distribution utilities, which in turn serve 2 million Florida residents and businesses. Each of the distribution utilities appoints one representative to Florida Municipal Power Agency's board of directors, which governs the agency's activities. The Agency is authorized to undertake joint projects for its members and to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance the costs of such projects. It is also empowered to implement a pooled financing program for utility-related projects.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) digs doling out energy in sandy Southern California. The company is a regulated utility that serves 1.4 million electricity customers and more than 840,000 natural gas customers in San Diego County and a portion of southern Orange County. The electric utility segment owns about 22,200 miles of power distribution lines, which serve about 25 communities; its 1,870 miles of transmission lines are managed by the California Independent System Operator. SDG&E also has limited power generation operations (it owns or contracts more than 5,500 MW of generating capacity). The gas utility operates almost 170 miles of transmission pipelines and about 8,420 miles of distribution mains.

The utility provides electricity to 490,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers over nearly 32,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines. Idaho Power holds franchises in 71 cities in Idaho and nine in Oregon. It also owns power plant interests that give it a generating capacity of more than 3,000 MW. In addition, the company, a subsidiary of IDACORP, has a 33% stake in the Bridger Coal Company, which supplies fuel to the Jim Bridger generating plant in Wyoming.Idaho Power lights up spud farms and factories in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon.

North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation (NCEMC) generates and transmits electricity to the state's 26 electric cooperatives in 93 of North Carolina's 100 counties. The co-op owns more than 600 MW of generating capacity through four primarily natural gas peak load generators, plus a 62% stake in Catawba Nuclear Station Unit 1, and a 31% stake in the common facilities of the Catawba Nuclear Station in South Carolina. It also buys power from Progress Energy, American Electric Power, and other for-profit utilities. NCEMC's member cooperatives serve more than 950,000 businesses and homes in North Carolina. The wholesale co-op also operates an energy operations center.

Yankee Gas Services does not ride a pony into town like a Yankee Doodle Dandy, but it does pipe a lot of natural gas to 71 central and southwest Connecticut towns and cities. With approximately 205,000 commercial, industrial, and residential customers, the company, a subsidiary of Yankee Energy System (which is itself a unit of Northeast Utilities), is the largest natural gas distributor in Connecticut. Northeast Utilities Service Company, also a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities, performs administrative and accounting duties for Yankee Gas Services.

SolarCraft Services designs and installs solar energy systems that capitalize on California's sunshine. The company has installed more than 4,300 solar energy systems for residential and commercial customers in Northern California, including numerous vineyards and wineries. Its largest project was a 1.1 MW system at Paramount Farms, the world's largest grower and processor of pistachios and almonds. SolarCraft Services uses solar panels made by Mitsubishi, Sharp and SunPower, panels for swimming pools made by FAFCO, and components by SatCon. The company was founded in 1984.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.