Missouri Electric Cooperatives Association of Mo Electric Cooperatives

In support of the mission of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, the rural Missouri magazine serves as the chief means of communication for the Association's member systems. In 2023, rural Missouri staff printed and mailed 6,988,925 copies of the publication at a cost that is below the price of a postage stamp. Staff produced 660 pages of material to inform members about issues related to the Electric cooperative program. In addition, an average of 110 local pages were produced per month that informed members about services and events related to their local system. The publication also served as the official notice of annual meeting for member systems, saving member systems an average of $12,000.

Cooperative advertising - this program serves as the advertising program for all of Missouri's Electric Cooperatives. Media purchases are made for Cooperatives both individually and collectively. The goal is to receive a better rate for our systems with group purchases and have statewide coverage. The ads are a combination of "electrical safety," "brand marketing and "youth initiative". Ads were also run in print form. These were mainly in rural Missouri magazine, today's farmer and other agriculture industry publications. The focus of these print ads was promoting safety around Electric lines.systems served: 40 distribution Cooperatives, 6 transmission Cooperatives and 1 generation cooperative.broadcast area: radio - entire state of Missouri, plus additional broadcasts during the state fair. Print area is the entire state of Missouri circulation. Social media is present on facebook, x, instagram, tik tok, and some web pages.number of stations/broadcasts/prints/social media: approximately 83 stations, approximately 10,000 radio ads, 12 print ads per year in rural Missouri, and 35 times in today's farmer, and other ag magazines. Also placement of banners on internet and streaming tv services and posts on facebook. Ads were also placed on pandora and spotify streaming radio.short term goals: provide public information as it relates to safety and current issues of Electric Cooperatives. Examples: rate issues, storms, energy efficiency, etc.long term goals: building a base for continually updating our member owners on current events and a consistent, ongoing message of being safe around electricity. We also try to provide these messages in the most economical and broad means possible. This is the idea of group purchase of ads on behalf of the entire cooperative system.

The risk management and training department provides onsite safety meetings, training schools, conferences, testing services, mecip (workers compensation) audits/inspections, aeci risk assessments, and resap audits for 46 Electric Cooperatives in Missouri. The department also coordinates mutual aid among its member systems to support Electric Cooperatives in other states affected by natural disasters. During 2023, 276 safety meetings were presented and 29 training schools and conferences. The total number of cooperative employees that attended training schools and conferences was 965. 40 mecip audits/inspections, 10 aeci risk assessments and 8 resap onsite observations were completed. The testing program tested 884 trucks, 4,843 grounds, 3,848 live line tools and 10,495 pieces of cover-up. All billing to Cooperatives was through amec.