Created by Texas ranchers and business owners, Pedernales Electric Cooperative provides electricity services in the Texas Hill Country. The company, the largest electric cooperative in the US, purchases its electricity from wholesale providers, primarily the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), and transmits and distributes it to more than 234,000 customers. The member-owned cooperative is purchasing wind-power assets from American Electric Power to expand its green energy sources. In 2008 a scandal over alleged inappropriate expenditures by board members led to the resignation of the board president and intense scrutiny of the co-op by the public, members, and the government. Created by Texas ranchers and business owners, Pedernales Electric Cooperative provides electricity services in the Texas Hill Country. The company, the largest electric cooperative in the US, purchases its electricity from wholesale providers, primarily the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), and transmits and distributes it to more than 234,000 customers. The member-owned cooperative is purchasing wind-power assets from American Electric Power to expand its green energy sources. In 2008 a scandal over alleged inappropriate expenditures by board members led to the resignation of the board president and intense scrutiny of the co-op by the public, members, and the government.

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).

Sharing power is not a threatening proposition for Southeastern Power Administration. The power distributor markets electricity generated at federal hydroelectric facilities (nearly 3,400 MW of capacity) to customers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The company's 495 preference wholesale customers (who serve more than 13 million consumers) are primarily municipal and cooperative utilities in the region. Southeastern Power Administration is an agency of the US Department of Energy, and its goal is to market electric power generated by Federal reservoir projects at the lowest possible cost to consumers.

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.

NORESCO provides utility customers in the US with infrastructure development, design/build services, commissioning strategies, financing, and client-centered asset management services. The company develops and implements build/own/operate distributed generation, cogeneration, or combined heat and power projects; arranges, on a consulting basis, commodity electricity or gas supply; and provides firm contracting of energy supply. It also holds interests in independent power plants. Global leader in HVAC products and systems Carrier, a unit of UTC, owns NORESCO.

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.

Detroit Edison generates and distributes electricity to 2.1 million customers in Michigan. The utility, a unit of regional power player DTE Energy, has more than 11,080 MW of generating capacity from its interests in nfossil-fueled, nuclear, and hydroelectric power plants. It operates more than 44,000 circuit miles of distribution lines and owns and operates about 680 distribution substations. Detroit Edison also sells excess power to wholesale customers and provides coal transportation services.

When the Blue Moon of Kentucky is not enough to light the way, East Kentucky Power Cooperative is there to help. The company generates and transmits electricity to 16 local distribution cooperatives, which in turn provide electricity to 519,000 customers in 87 counties in eastern Kentucky. East Kentucky Power operates more than 2,900 miles of transmission lines, and generates most of its electricity from primarily fossil-fueled power plants with more than 2,500 MW of capacity. The company also operates landfill-gas generation facilities and purchases hydroelectric power from the Southeastern Power Administration.

Caithness Corp., which develops wind and other renewable power plants in the US under the Caithness Energy brand. Although the firm has focused on the development, acquisition, operation, and management of geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, and solar energy power projects, it also develops environmentally friendly fossil-fueled plants. Caithness is one of the largest producers of renewable energy in the US, and has developed more than 350 MW of geothermal projects, 160 MW of solar plants, and 440 MW produced by wind turbines. On the cleaner fossil fuel plant side it has also developed more than 2,000 MW of gas-turbine powered capacity.

Southern Company isn't just whistling Dixie. The holding company is one of the largest electricity distributors in the US. It operates regulated utilities Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi Power, which combined have a generating capacity of more than 42,900 MW and serve more than 4.4 million electricity customers in the southeastern US. The good ol' power company also has energy marketing operations, and it provides energy consulting and management services for businesses and institutions. Through its Southern LINC Wireless unit, it provides wireless communications services in its US utility territory; its Southern Telecom unit offers wholesale fiber-optic services.

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