It’s hard to imagine a time without electricity, but it wasn’t all that long ago when most rural homes didn’t have access to power. Because rural areas have few people per mile, it wasn’t profitable for investor-owned utilities to build power lines to reach them, so they didn’t. In the late 1930s, rural residents gathered together to form electric cooperatives and bring power to rural America by themselves.

The history of electric cooperatives is rich and inspiring. It’s a success story of people banding together to improve their lives. Although we’ve come a long way since our cooperative started, we still honor the same business model and principles today. Here are some of the reason your co-op is unique—We call this the cooperative difference.

1.  You’re a member-owner, not a customer. At our cooperative, membership means something much more than the right to buy electricity. You can participate in a meaningful way in the organization, including the right to vote for who represents you on the board of directors—or the right to run for a board seat yourself. Your membership gives you a say in how the cooperative is run.

2.  Capital credits and billing credits put money back in your pocket. How many other businesses give you money back? SPEC is driven by service, not profit.  We bill you to cover the cost of providing service, including our operational expenses, and return credits to you when possible. We typically give these credits around Christmastime. We know it can really help out with those cold-weather electric bills, as well as your Christmas shopping. Last year, we returned more than $4.5 million in capital credits and billing credits. On average, each member received about $400.

3.  We’re local. We do business close to home. Our employees live, work and shop in your community. You can come by our Sinton office and talk to someone you know about any part of your service. When you call us, you can speak with someone close by who knows the community and what’s happening in it.

4.  We support your community. We are committed to the communities we serve and give back whenever we can. We support local organizations, give out scholarships, send students to Washington, D.C., teach electricity safety and more!

5.  We’re small. On average, we serve just three meters per mile of line. That means we can respond to issues quickly to provide the most reliable service possible.

 6.  We’re part of other cooperatives. One of our core principals is cooperation among cooperatives, which allows us to operate as small organization with the power of a large company behind us. We’re members of Texas Electric Cooperates (TEC) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative (NRECA). These organizations provide us with resources and training opportunities for our employees and directors. SPEC is also part of Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, a national alliance made up of more than 750 cooperatives. Together we serve 80 percent of the nation’s counties and make up the largest electric utility network in the United States.

​7.  There are perks! As part of cooperative, you get more than just electric service. We offer programs to help you save money. The Co-op Connections program is one of the benefits you receive as a co-op member. Through the free program you have access to discounts at thousands of local and national stores, hotels, restaurants, pharmacies and more.