Oct 2, 2026 · 6 min · 4 segments
What makes a cooperative different? In this episode of Beyond the Lines, we explore the Seven Cooperative Principles that guide United Electric Cooperative and cooperatives around the world. From…
Cooperatives across the country operate on seven cooperative principles that we found as best practices for running successful member-owned cooperatives.
The first of these seven is voluntary and open membership.
This means we cannot discriminate against people we serve.
So if you want service from us and can meet our guidelines and bylaws for service, such as safety, financial, and other considerations, we have to provide you service.
We don't make judgment calls on what you're doing with electricity.
We're here to serve as long as you pay your way and provide for the cooperative.
The second one is democratic member control.
Democratic member control means you, the members, select the board of directors who governs the cooperative.
Governing of a cooperative means they set the policies.
They don't run the day-to-day operation, but they set the guidelines we operate on.
The board has one employee, the CEO, for United is me.
Their directions go through me to the operations of the cooperative, so we have member-led policies we operate under.
So when we say m- democratic member control, we mean democratic member control.
The third one is autonomy and independence.
I've talked about all the partners, like the four to some other electric cooperatives in Missouri that we do business with and we partner with, but United is its own independent company.
We operate as our own company for the benefit of our members.
Our first priority is our members.
Our business is our business.
So we have great partners co-ops around us who we do a lot of, for all the projects and things with, such as Platte, Clay, or Atchison, Holt.
Those cooperatives are their own m- businesses too.
All each business is governed on its own and stands on its own.
The fourth of these is education, training, and information.
Cooperatives provide education training to their members, elected representatives, employees, and other stakeholders.
We do this in an effort to become part of the communities in which we live and to let people know how cooperatives operate and how we can help the local community.
One of our biggest initiatives in this area is the Electric Youth Tour, where each year, cooperatives from around the nation send students to Washington, D.C. to learn more about cooperatives and the other parts of the nation and how they run their cooperatives.
Cooperatives across the country operate on seven cooperative principles that we found as best practices for running successful member-owned cooperatives.
The first of these seven is voluntary and open membership.
This means we cannot discriminate against people we serve.
So if you want service from us and can meet our guidelines and bylaws for service, such as safety, financial, and other considerations, we have to provide you service.
We don't make judgment calls on what you're doing with electricity.
We're here to serve as long as you pay your way and provide for the cooperative.
The second one is democratic member control.
Democratic member control means you, the members, select the board of directors who governs the cooperative.
Governing of a cooperative means they set the policies.
They don't run the day-to-day operation, but they set the guidelines we operate on.
The board has one employee, the CEO, for United is me.
Their directions go through me to the operations of the cooperative, so we have member-led policies we operate under.
So when we say m- democratic member control, we mean democratic member control.
The third one is autonomy and independence.
I've talked about all the partners, like the four to some other electric cooperatives in Missouri that we do business with and we partner with, but United is its own independent company.
We operate as our own company for the benefit of our members.
Our first priority is our members.
Our business is our business.
So we have great partners co-ops around us who we do a lot of, for all the projects and things with, such as Platte, Clay, or Atchison, Holt.
Those cooperatives are their own m- businesses too.
All each business is governed on its own and stands on its own.
The fourth of these is education, training, and information.
Cooperatives provide education training to their members, elected representatives, employees, and other stakeholders.
We do this in an effort to become part of the communities in which we live and to let people know how cooperatives operate and how we can help the local community.
One of our biggest initiatives in this area is the Electric Youth Tour, where each year, cooperatives from around the nation send students to Washington, D.C. to learn more about cooperatives and the other parts of the nation and how they run their cooperatives.
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