The power behind your power

Last month, we explored the jour­ney elec­tric­i­ty takes to reach your home. You might have been sur­prised to learn that York Elec­tric does not gen­er­ate the elec­tric­i­ty you use. Instead, we rely on key part­ners and orga­ni­za­tions that work togeth­er to deliv­er elec­tric­i­ty, sav­ing you mon­ey and ensur­ing access to reli­able and afford­able pow­er.

One of our key part­ners is CEEUS (Coop­er­a­tive Elec­tric Ener­gy Util­i­ty Ser­vices), which sup­plies York Elec­tric and oth­er coop­er­a­tives with essen­tial mate­ri­als and equip­ment. Hav­ing a cen­tral­ized sup­pli­er for mate­ri­als allows us to secure nec­es­sary sup­plies quick­ly, espe­cial­ly in storm or out­age sit­u­a­tions.

Along­side four oth­er upstate elec­tric coop­er­a­tives, York Elec­tric is a mem­ber of New Hori­zon Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive. Their engi­neer­ing, tech­nol­o­gy and oper­a­tions ser­vices are inte­gral to York Electric’s sub­sta­tion design, con­struc­tion, main­te­nance and test­ing. When­ev­er York Elec­tric builds a new sub­sta­tion, we call on New Hori­zon to ensure every­thing is built to last and oper­ates effi­cient­ly.

Cen­tral Elec­tric Pow­er Coop­er­a­tive pur­chas­es the elec­tric­i­ty that trav­els through York Electric’s dis­tri­b­u­tion sys­tem. Cen­tral doesn’t gen­er­ate the pow­er we use but nego­ti­ates pow­er con­tracts with util­i­ties such as San­tee Coop­er, Duke Ener­gy and the South­east­ern Pow­er Admin­is­tra­tion (SEPA), on behalf of York Elec­tric and the oth­er 18 mem­ber coop­er­a­tives. Because Cen­tral buys enough pow­er to sup­ply all mem­ber co-ops, it has the bar­gain­ing pow­er to secure sig­nif­i­cant­ly low­er rates than York Elec­tric could nego­ti­ate on our own.

Cen­tral also works close­ly with local bal­anc­ing author­i­ties such as Duke Ener­gy and San­tee Coop­er, which man­age the flow of elec­tric­i­ty across their respec­tive ter­ri­to­ries, ensur­ing that sup­ply match­es demand in real-time. Their role is essen­tial for grid resilien­cy, which means they help keep the sys­tem sta­ble, pre­vent dis­rup­tions and respond quick­ly to unex­pect­ed issues.

But pow­er deliv­ery isn’t just about action, it’s about plan­ning for the future. That’s why we rely on the analy­sis of Central’s Inte­grat­ed Resource Plan (IRP), which lays out what resources and tech- nolo­gies are need­ed to meet future ener­gy needs and improve sys­tem reli- abil­i­ty. Along­side this work, The Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tives of South Car­oli­na (ECSC) serves as the trade orga­ni­za­tion for South Carolina’s co-ops, sup­port­ing gov­ern­ment rela­tions, edu­ca­tion and train­ing for employ­ees and mem­bers. By close­ly fol­low­ing ener­gy pol­i­cy and stand­ing up for what is best for our mem­bers, we can help secure a brighter ener­gy future for the com­mu­ni­ties we serve.

While York Elec­tric may not own the pow­er plants that gen­er­ate the elec­tric­i­ty you use, we’re part of a well-coor­di­nat­ed statewide team that works togeth­er to deliv­er pow­er to you. Speak­ing of teams, your local York Elec­tric team is prepar­ing for our Super Bowl—our 84th Annu­al Meet­ing of Mem­bers.

I’d like to invite you and your fam­i­ly to our con­ve­nient dri­ve-thru annu­al meet­ing. You can reg­is­ter and vote on Wednes­day, April 30 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Tega Cay’s Cataw­ba Park, locat­ed at 2351 New Gray Rock Rd., or on Sat­ur­day, May 3 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at our York office, locat­ed at 1385 E. Alexan­der Love Hwy. We look for­ward to see­ing you there, as we con­tin­ue to work togeth­er as a team to serve you.