Before the advent of competition, electric utilities collaborated all the time. Electric cooperatives still do. They form cooperatives for everything, such as generation and transmission (G&T), commodities supply, loans and financing, and equipment pools. The cooperative model was created, Mark Glaess, a member of
GRiD Today's Editorial Advisory Board, told Board Chairman Jason Makansi during a recent sit-down, when it became clear early in the electric industry's history that the investor-owned utility (IOU) model couldn't shake enough profit from the trees in the hinterlands.
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