Stearns Electric Association

An innovative approach to promoting electric vehicles (EVs) earned this month’s featured co-op a spotlight on the national stage. Stearns Electric Association’s communications team was honored at the National Rural Electric Association’s CONNECT Conference for garnering the most social media followers on a 1,200-mile EV road trip. The cooperative sent Whitney Ditlevson and Amanda Groethe to Salt Lake City in a Tesla last May and they wrote about it all on the Roadtrip; Recharged blog.

Stearns Electric Association considers itself uniquely positioned for an increase in EVs on its system. Forty-eight percent of its members are residential and the co-op provides electric service to New Flyer, a transit bus and motor coach manufacturer that is also producing EVs. The co-op also provides electric service to other prominent local businesses including Anderson Trucking, Redhead Creamery, Legacy Building Solutions and Bayer Built Woodworks.

In addition to the variety of commercial accounts served, Stearns Electric Association also provides electricity to a significant portion of Minnesota’s agriculture producers. In fact, if you looked at its 50 largest electricity users, about half of them are farms. In addition, the co-op’s service territory covers nearly 80 percent of the state’s dairy farms as well as the leading poultry, livestock and total agricultural producing counties in Minnesota.

Stearns Electric Association is uniquely positioned for an increase in EVs as 48 percent of the co-op’s members are residential. They also provide electric service to New Flyer, a transit bus and motor coach manufacturer which is also producing EVs. The co-op provides electric service to other prominent local businesses including Anderson Trucking, Redhead Creamery, Legacy Building Solutions and Bayer Built Woodworks.

In addition to the variety of commercial accounts served, Stearns Electric Association also provides electricity to a significant portion of Minnesota’s agriculture producers. In fact, if you looked at its 50 largest users, about half of them are farms. In addition, the co-op’s service territory covers nearly 80 percent of the state’s dairy farms as well as the leading poultry, livestock and total agricultural producing counties in Minnesota.

Click here for the latest cooperative news