ATLANTA—Synergies between electric service and fiber broadband at cooperatives are improving safety, reliability and even workplace culture, co-op leaders told an audience at an NRECA PowerXchange breakout session.

“Electric co-ops deploying fiber broadband for future-proof high-speed internet and grid communications are reporting wide-ranging benefits that are serving their members’ needs now and into the future,” said NRECA Broadband Director Cliff Johnson, who moderated the March 10 panel.

At Norman-based Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, safety improvements were a primary goal when it launched a broadband project in 2018, said CEO Patrick Grace. The supervisory control and data acquisition system that the fiber network enabled provides real-time grid monitoring and communications and helps reduce risks for line crews.

“We had a lineman die in 2003 from electrical contact. It’s something you never forget. So, folding in safety with broadband was first and foremost,” Grace said. “The combination of broadband and electricity impacts safety and has made us better on both.”

United Cooperative Services included a fiber backhaul network with their broadband build for more reliability after their wireless technology failed at key times, said Cameron Smallwood, general manager and CEO of the Burleson, Texas-based co-op, which has over 30,000 broadband subscribers.

“Communications is key,” he said. “Broadband works across all our purposes.”

The need to upgrade networks and poles as part of a fiber deployment also strengthened system reliability, the panelists said.

“When you touch every single pole and trot down every right of way, you make choices—we can move poles out of swamps and make lines more accessible,” said Chris O’Neill, CEO of HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Cooperative.

The Portland, Michigan-based co-op has 12,500 internet subscribers.

“It’s not just a broadband project but a generational investment,” he said.

Grace described how broadband unlocked OEC’s ability to operate a “self-healing” grid as part of a multilevel approach to reliability. The co-op, with nearly 42,000 broadband subscribers, has seen a 20% to 30% drop in outages as a “direct result from high-speed communications,” he said.

Co-ops have also seen their political stature climb because of their willingness to bring high-speed connectivity to communities where no other internet provider would.

Smallwood shared how a Texas legislative leader urged UCS to deploy broadband in their neighborhood because the existing service was unreliable.

“We planned to serve the subdivision in the future, but they rallied the folks in their subdivision to register and we got it done ahead of when we planned,” he said. “All I hear is praise since we completed that subdivision. That’s one more point of trust.”

Another positive by-product for electric co-ops in broadband is a boost to workplace culture, the CEOs said. Initial doubts about the investment and additional work have given way to broad staff support.

“Now that most of our employees use the service, they fully understand the benefit,” said Smallwood, noting UCS’s broadband achieved 94% on a recent American Customer Satisfaction Index survey. “We would not be scoring that ACSI if our members were not engaged. Everybody is on board."

“You hear about butting heads, electric versus broadband staff because broadband is getting more attention,” said O’Neill. But instead, the synergy has been like “a cultural epinephrine shot.”

“Very few of us have had the opportunity to do life-changing action on behalf of our membership in the past 80 years,” he said. “So, for us to give them something they would not have received otherwise, we’re living out the mission. It’s been a big deal.”