2024 Year in Review
2024 was yet another monumental year in the fight for the future of Rural Electric Cooperatives.
The Rural Power Coalition dedicated our work to ensuring the federal funding provided in the Inflation Reduction Act for Rural Electric Co-ops (RECs) will truly benefit member-owners and the rural communities that co-ops reside within.
Co-ops nationwide will benefit from new federal investments, with 90% of the funds now officially ‘obligated’ ($9 billion out of $9.7 billion available in the New ERA program).
Now, as we shift our sights to 2025, our main priorities are to ensure all remaining New ERA funding is obligated to co-ops under the new administration, to support co-ops as they develop their Community and Farmer Benefits Plans, and to educate co-ops, member-owners, and supportive organizations about the historical promises and current opportunities to strengthen cooperative democracy and ensure that everyone across the country has access to affordable clean power.
Stay tuned for what comes next.
In the meantime, here are key highlights from our work in 2024:
Achievements
We continued to build up our organizing, advocacy, and communications capacities to ensure funds from PACE and New ERA were awarded and obligated to co-ops by the Biden administration.
45 million rural citizens, 35,000 family farms, and 430 co-ops are expected to benefit from the New ERA program. These benefits will have a positive impact on 1 in 5 Americans and will support 25,000 jobs.
The Powering Affordable Clean Energy Program (PACE) announced $995 Million in awards to 34 co-ops for generation, storage, and grid upgrades.
Due in major part to RPC advocacy, USDA created a requirement for recipients of PACE and New ERA funding to submit a community benefit plan (CBP) followed by the creation of the first Community Benefit Plan framework for USDA.
RPC drove the creation of Farmer Benefits Plans, required by USDA as specific categories of CBP, to which New ERA funding is tied and which will provide financial benefits for farmers, increase the profitability of marginal farmland, lower energy rates, and provide additional benefits.
RPC news stories were published by over 450 web, print, radio, and TV outlets across CO, MO, KY, VA, MS, and TX, reaching over six million people!
This website, the RPC website, has continued to grow as a knowledge base, with RPC regularly creating and publishing educational materials on our resources page and blog, including a guide on how to develop CBPs.
Expanding our educational materials, RPC began producing informational videos, beginning with Power to the People: The Story of Rural Electric Cooperatives. Produced in partnership with the Story of Stuff Project, this animated video provides an engaging and concise history of the origin of rural electric co-ops up until today.
RPC released two additional explainer videos, on agrivoltaics and virtual power plants, with more coming soon.
Behind the scenes, RPC began developing an education program which will include an 8-week REC Co-Lab, extensive REC Organizing Toolkit, and member-owner training. Further details and enrollment for the REC Co-Lab will open in early 2025, so stay tuned for more on that!