Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. is a not-for-profit electric generation and transmission electric cooperative that provides power for more than 1.2 million people served by Arkansas' 17 local electric co-ops, many of whom are economically distressed and depend on electricity to heat and cool their homes.

Nearly 20% of the power AECC's members receive comes from hydropower, wind, solar and other non-fossil resources. It owns four coal-based power plants, two natural gas/oil plants, three hydroelectric stations, four natural gas plants and a solar facility. It also purchases additional energy resources including hydroelectric, wind, solar and battery energy.

AECC depends on coal-based power to provide always-available power. In mid-February 2021, including during Winter Storm Uri, there were 58 hours when the five wind facilities AECC depended on were producing no energy. And during AECC's peak power usage during Winter Storm Elliott in December 2022, generation from the 15 solar facilities AECC had agreements with only produced 6% of their potential capacity.

AECC co-owns coal-based electric generating units that will be affected by the Environmental Protection Agency's power plant rule—the Flint Creek Power Plant and the John W. Turk Power Plant. Retirement by 2032 is the only option for these two plants, which forces AECC to immediately begin spending money to replace the power generated by the plants.

Complying with the rule and replacing the power generated by these units has compounded the challenges AECC already faces because of other plants being forced to cease using cost-effective coal, the growth in demand for electricity and increasing grid requirements. This need for additional power will require AECC to invest approximately $3 billion in new generation assets. The cost of these investments will be passed on to its consumers for decades.