Kootenai Electric Cooperative, Inc. (KEC) is a member-owned electric utility in Hayden, Idaho. The Cooperative provides competitively priced, quality energy services to its members and is governed by an independent seven-member elected Board of Directors. Kootenai Electric has more than 23,000 member accounts and over 2,000 miles of electric line in parts of Kootenai, Benewah, Bonner and Spokane counties. Kootenai Electric employs nearly 80 people and is the largest electric cooperative in Idaho.

Locally Owned and Locally Controlled

Electric cooperatives are private, independent electric utilities, owned by the members they serve. Democratically governed businesses, electric cooperatives are organized under the Cooperative or Rochdale Principles, anchoring them firmly in the communities they serve and ensuring that they are closely regulated by their consumers.

Kootenai Electric is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, so we're part of an alliance of more than 700 electric cooperatives nationwide exhibiting the core values of integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. 

Collectively, electric cooperatives are found in 47 states, serve 42 million people and provide power to 18 million businesses, homes, schools, churches, farms and irrigation systems. The nation's electric co-ops serve 2,500 of 3,141 counties in the United States. We serve three-quarters of America's landmass. Our 2.5 million miles of electric lines represent 42 percent of the nation's total.

Despite this vast network, electric co-ops serve only 12 percent of the nation's population and supply just 10 percent of the total kilowatt-hours sold in the United States. This great disparity between the size of our system and the number of consumers points to the challenge electric co-ops face serving sparsely populated rural areas.

You're more than just a customer. You're a member and an owner.

All individuals or entities that use electricity from Kootenai Electric are members of the cooperative. They are entitled to participate in cooperative elections and to share in capital credits.