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One of the hallmarks of electric cooperatives is their local presence. Rural electric cooperatives are owned by the people they serve – those farmers, homeowners, and small business people who live and work in the community. However, as the electric utility industry gears up for competition and change, this individual, local presence could be a disadvantage. How can the local electric co-op compete with large regional or nationwide investor owned utilities?

By cooperating with other cooperatives!

The Touchstone Energy brand was created to allow independent cooperatives to pool their resources and create a unified image—so consumers know that when they do business with a Touchstone Energy cooperative, they can expect a local presence, commitment to community, accountability, and innovative technology. So whether you’re located in Texas, Indiana, or western Kansas, your local Touchstone Energy cooperative is committed to providing you reliable service.

The idea of using a unified brand for marketing is certainly not a new one. Thousands of products are marketed every day by cooperatives such as Sunkist, True Value Hardware, and Farmland Industries, just to name a few.

Having a unified brand allows the local cooperative to continue to be a local utility providing accountability to its owners, local presence for service, and being a part of the community on a daily basis. Being part of Touchstone Energy allows the co-op to access national marketing materials for education and information about cooperatives, and new services being provided by electric co-ops.

Today there are more than 500 cooperatives nationwide who have joined forces to become Touchstone Energy cooperatives. Those cooperatives represent the largest network of transmission and distribution customers in the nation.

Research shows that consumers overwhelmingly prefer cooperatives as service providers. Telling the cooperative story lets existing customers feel good about their supplier. It also tells potential customers about the benefits of having their electricity supplied by a rural electric cooperative.

The Touchstone Energy brand does not replace the logo of the cooperative. Being part of the Touchstone Energy initiative does not mean the local co-op is changing its name or merging with another company. The logo is meant to be used with the local cooperatives name to let customers know that as a Touchstone Energy cooperative, they can count on innovative technology, accountability to the members, a commitment to the local community, and reliable service.

Sunflower Electric and five of its Member Owners joined Touchstone Energy so they can continue to bring reliable power, innovative ideas, and timely marketing information to their owners. Lane-Scott Electric, Pioneer Electric, Victory Electric, Western Electric and Wheatland Electric have joined Sunflower Electric and hundreds of cooperatives across the nation to renew their commitment to their customers.

Touchstone Energy cooperatives will be held to a high standard of service by their peers. Signing on to become a Touchstone Energy cooperative means more than just paying money into a marketing fund. Cooperatives have to demonstrate their commitment to service through benchmarking their response time for outages, maintenance and safety commitment, community service programs, and their willingness to educate the community about the value of doing business with a local electric cooperative.

Visit the Touchstone Energy website to learn about the latest news about the Touchstone Energy co-ops all across America.