RPC’s Guide to Community Benefits Plans (CBPs) for Rural Electric Cooperatives
For the past four years, RPC has been a leading advocate for Federal funding to support a clean energy transition in rural communities across the United States, as provided for in the New ERA, PACE, and REAP programs.
Importantly, the New ERA and PACE programs (created in the Inflation Reduction Act) provide a transformational opportunity for rural electric cooperatives to become leaders in developing rural clean energy projects that directly benefit rural communities. To make sure this is the case, the USDA has created a requirement for program awardees to submit a community benefit plan (“CBP”).
RPC recognizes that for many rural electric cooperatives, the process of developing a CBP is (or will be) a new practice for these utilities. With this in mind, we have developed a guide to assist electric cooperatives and key community stakeholders with the community benefits planning process.
Our guide is organized into two succinct and focused sections:
First, we detail five process considerations that co-ops can use to guide CBP development.
Second, we highlight five outcomes that co-ops should seek to achieve to ensure energy security, sustainability, local wealth creation, and improved utility governance for impacted rural communities.
Ultimately, this guide is for both rural cooperatives and rural communities, so each can refer to our recommendations as they engage in the CBP process.
RPC is available as a resource to help rural electric co-ops with their CBP development and to increase community engagement in the process.
If you would like to learn more, please fill out this form, and a member of RPC will get back to you.