Perspective

Why rural electric cooperatives should test the equity markets.

 

I know, I know ... asking a rural electric cooperative to consider issuing stock is like asking a leopard to change its spots. But with competition and all the turmoil in the utility industry—unbundling, retail access, regional transmission organizations, convergence mergers, global mergers—it is a question cooperative executives are starting to ask. Cooperative conversion (to continue the animal metaphor) is the elephant in the middle of the room. Everyone is aware of it—even thinking about what it means—but no one really wants to talk about it.