Compare Cooperatives by Each Scored Criteria
General Scoring Notes:
- Co-ops received a score of zero for a question if the answer could not be found on the co-op’s website and they refused to respond to repeated calls/emails asking for the information. For example, if no board member term limits were mentioned on the co-op’s website and the co-op would not answer when researchers asked if there were term limits, the answer was recorded as “No”/zero points even though it is technically possible the co-op does have board member term limits. Some co-ops recorded with many zeroes might have achieved a much higher score if they had been more transparent and provided confirmation of their commendable programs and policies.
- For “Is the fixed fee shown as a separate line item on the member’s monthly bill?,” Joe Wheeler, Sand Mountain, and Central Alabama got 1 point for mentioning the fee on their website. It may be listed on the member’s bill as well, but these three co-ops refused to answer when asked if that was the case.
- Franklin Electric Cooperative and Pioneer Electric Cooperative both received full points for “Does the co-op have a Right-of-Way (ROW) spraying opt-out policy?” because neither cooperative uses herbicide spraying as part of their ROW maintenance strategy. A ROW spraying opt-out policy at these co-ops would serve no real purpose, so they earned full points despite not having one.
CEO Compensation Scoring Note:
The CEO compensation scoring was based on the ratio of the CEO’s total pay to the average median household income (MHI) of the co-op’s service area. The service area MHI was found by averaging the MHI of each county served by the co-op. If the co-op served more than six counties, the six with the most territory covered by the co-op were used for the calculation.