October 2007

Our Business is Your Business

WEMC's business model is consumer preferred

Maybe you’re new to Walton EMC. Or maybe you’ve just never realized it. Because you get electric service from us, you’re part owner of the company.

This business model is called a cooperative, and cooperatives exist to meet the needs of the people they serve, not to generate a profit.

There’s nothing wrong with making a profit. It’s the basis of the free enterprise system. But sometimes the marketplace fails and that’s when consumers have to take measures into their own hands.

That’s what happened years ago when investor-owned electric companies decided it wasn’t profitable enough to run electric lines into what was then the country. Consumers got together and formed their own companies, like Walton EMC, to get the job done.

Our successful company was formed in 1936. We are as strong and viable today as ever.

As a matter of fact, survey after survey confirms that today’s consumer prefers to do business with cooperatively-owned companies. Here’s what one survey reveals:

• 81 percent agree that co-op businesses can be counted on to meet customer needs, compared to only 65 percent for publicly traded corporations;
  
• 79 percent agree that co-op businesses are committed to providing the highest quality service, compared to only 58 percent for publicly traded corporations;
  
• 78 percent agree that co-op businesses are committed to their community, compared to only 53 percent for publicly traded corporations; and
  
• 77 percent agree that co-op businesses have the best interest of consumers in mind, compared to only 47 percent for publicly traded corporations.

Because we’re owned by you, the customer, it would be self-defeating to make a profit. That’s why we return the excess to you during our capital credit refunds, generally every December.

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