BONITA SPRINGS, Fla.—While the wait times for electric cooperatives and other utilities to receive distribution transformers and other critical equipment have improved recently, co-op experts at Touchstone Energy® Cooperative's 2025 NEXT Conference said challenges with several key items remain.

The lag time for high-voltage transformers, for example, has gone from two years during the pandemic to five years now because of high demand, said moderator Jeremy Woeste from Basin Electric Power Cooperative. That's distorting typical timelines and transmission projects.

“We used to be able to get about 40% to 60% of our planning done on a project before we got in the supply chain line to purchase equipment," said Woest, supervisor of member relations at the Bismarck, North Dakota-based generation and transmission cooperative. “But today we're finding that we have to get in line immediately—before we've made a final decision."

Basin Electric expects to spend about $7 billion over the next 10 years on new generation, new transmission and system upgrades to serve dramatically growing loads, he said.

“The supply chain is critically important to us in making sure that we get our projects online in a timely and cost-effective way," said Woeste. Basin Electric serves 139 distribution co-ops in nine states.

Building and maintaining good relationships with suppliers is key, said Zach Mischler, a sales manager at United Utility Supply, a distributor owned by co-ops in 20 Eastern states.

“The pandemic was the ultimate supply chain stress test," Mischler said. “We were able to maintain our inventory because of close relationships with our manufacturing suppliers. That's even more important today as things change quickly, from political risks to overseas risks. You have to have a supplier you can trust."

Mischler urged co-ops to have honest and candid communications with distributors to accurately forecast future demand and make sure their needs are met.

“Our long-standing members deserve a lot of credit for our ability to work with them to keep material moving and hold costs in check."

Mischler also mentioned efforts by NRECA and member co-ops to convince the Department of Energy to scale back a proposed rule that would have forced distribution transformer manufacturers to switch to hard-to-find amorphous steel for transformer cores, among other mandates. The final rule largely maintains the use of grain-oriented electrical steel and gives manufacturers more time to meet new efficiency standards.

“That's another example of the critical nature of communications," Mischler said. “Because co-ops were ready to explain the issue, we prevented another potential supply chain crisis."

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