S.C. Co-ops help members save millions

Eight years after its intro­duc­tion, Touch­stone Ener­gy’s Co-op Con­nec­tions card remains a valu­able ben­e­fit for S.C. coop­er­a­tive mem­bers. Four co-ops in the state are nation­al lead­ers in the pro­gram. Since 2007, Berke­ley Elec­tric mem­bers saved more than $3 mil­lion on pre­scrip­tion drugs—the high­est num­ber of any co-op in the coun­try. Right behind at num­ber two is Blue Ridge Elec­tric. Blue Ridge mem­bers saved more than $2.8 mil­lion over the past eight years. Fourth on the list is Pal­met­to Elec­tric whose mem­bers saved more than $2 mil­lion. And, York Elec­tric began offer­ing the pro­gram in May of 2009 and is cur­rent­ly ranked 19th with mem­bers sav­ing $902,462 as of Dec. 31, 2014.

In 2014, dis­counts on pre­scrip­tion drugs reached an all-time high of 45 per­cent. Nation­wide since 2007, Co-op Con­nec­tions card­hold­ers saved more than $82 mil­lion on pre­scrip­tion drug pur­chas­es. Con­nect­ing mem­bers to dis­counts has nev­er been eas­i­er. The Co-op Con­nec­tions mobile app pro­vides a link to deals on every­thing from rental cars to din­ing. Last year, the Connections.coop web­site received more than 1.3 mil­lion page views. Close to 500 elec­tric coop­er­a­tives across Amer­i­ca par­tic­i­pate in the Co-op Con­nec­tions Card program—one of the strongest ways co-ops can dis­play the coop­er­a­tive dif­fer­ence.