From the very beginning of the rural electrification program in the 1930s, electric cooperatives have relied on other cooperatives to assist in times of disasters. Disaster response and mutual assistance is executed and managed by NRECA members. Coordination is provided by the statewide organizations—statewide storm coordinators manage the coordination between states and cooperatives in need and states and cooperatives providing personnel and equipment. Because the national network of transmission and distribution infrastructure owned by electric cooperatives has been built to federal standards, line crews from any co-op in America can arrive on the scene ready to provide emergency support, secure in their knowledge of the system’s engineering.
