First Electric Cooperative wasn't the first electric cooperative ever formed, but it was the first such entity created in its home state. The member-owned utility distributes power to more than 85,000 customers in 17 central and southeastern Arkansas counties. It also offers its members a range of energy products and value-added services, including energy efficient Marathon water heaters, surge and lightning protection equipment, and compact fluorescent light bulbs. Some 72% of the cooperative's revenues come from residential customers; commercial and industrial customers account for another 20%, and the rest comes from such sources as irrigation and street lighting.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) digs doling out energy in sandy Southern California. The company is a regulated utility that serves 1.4 million electricity customers and more than 840,000 natural gas customers in San Diego County and a portion of southern Orange County. The electric utility segment owns about 22,200 miles of power distribution lines, which serve about 25 communities; its 1,870 miles of transmission lines are managed by the California Independent System Operator. SDG&E also has limited power generation operations (it owns or contracts more than 5,500 MW of generating capacity). The gas utility operates almost 170 miles of transmission pipelines and about 8,420 miles of distribution mains.

Touchstone Energy keeps in touch with the energy of its members. The organization is a national alliance of local, consumer-owned electric utility cooperatives providing service to more than 30 million customers through more than 660 affiliated cooperatives in 46 states. Touchstone Energy champions the cause of electric cooperatives nationwide through organizing branding events, media projects, and other public relations activities. The alliance runs television ads on various channels, including CNN, ESPN, TNT, The Weather Channel, TBS, and The Learning Channel. It also places print ads in national magazines and newspapers, including Reader's Digest and other major publications.

California Water Service Group, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in California, Washington, New Mexico, and Hawaii. It engages in the production, purchase, storage, treatment, testing, distribution, and sale of water for domestic, industrial, public, and irrigation uses, as well as for fire protection. The company also provides non-regulated water-related services, including the operation of water and recycled water systems; leasing communication antenna sites on its properties; meter reading and billing services; sewer and refuse billing services; lab services for water quality testing; selling surplus property; and the marketing and billing of third party insurance programs to residential customers. As of December 31, 2009, it served approximately 467,100 customers in 83 communities in California; 15,600 customers in the Tacoma and Olympia areas in Washington; 7,800 water and wastewater customers in the Belen, Los Lunas, and Elephant Butte areas in New Mexico; and 4,200 water and wastewater customers on the islands of Maui and Hawaii. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative did the generation and transmission cooperative produces more than 1,400 MW of capacity at its coal and natural gas fueled generating plants, with two in Anadarko, one in Mooreland and one in Hugo. The cooperative pipes the juice over 3,500 miles of transmission lines to two-thirds of rural Oklahoma. Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, which is owned by its member distribution cooperatives, supplies 19 distribution co-ops and Altus Air Force base, which serve a combined half-million members.

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, which operates as BC Hydro, distributes electricity to the 1.8 million residential and business customers. The province-owned utility owns more than 46,500 miles of transmission and distribution lines, and it operates hydroelectric and fossil-fueled power plants about 11,350 MW of generating capacity. Subsidiary Powerex markets and trades energy throughout North America. To increase efficiencies in green power production, in 2010 BC Hydro consolidated its transmission operations with those of the province-owned British Columbia Transmission. A Crown corporation owned by British Columbia, BC Hydro is regulated by British Columbia Utilities Commission.

The Jersey Electricity Company is the sole distributor of electricity services to Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands. The company's services include electricity supply and a range of building services (mechanical, plumbing, design, air-conditioning, facilities management). It also offers equipment, including space and water heaters, heat pumps, and air-conditioning and refrigeration units. It sells retail appliances through its Powerhouse store. The company has diversified into mobile phones and computers but has sold its JET telecommunications business. Jersey's government controls the utility.

Guangzhou Development Industry helps keep the lights on in China's Pearl River Delta. Established in 1997, the company is the largest power producer in Guangzhou province, with stake in about 10 coal-fired power plants with 2,100 MW of generating capacity. Guangzhou's energy logistics division operates an 80,000-ton deep-water coal-loading terminal and a 340,000-ton coal storage field. Nansha Oil Terminal, its joint venture with BP, has expanded Guangzhou's oil products distribution services throughout the region. The company is also a shareholder in Guangzhou Northern No. 2 Ring Expressway, a key toll road operating in the Pearl River Delta

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association supplies wholesale electricity to 44 rural distribution utilities that serve about 1.5 million customers (more than 599,300 meters) in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming (New Mexico was a late addition to the association's service region). The member-owned cooperative has a generating capacity of 3,840 MW from its interests primarily in fossil-fueled power plants, and it operates 5,270 miles of transmission lines. Tri-State Generation and Transmission also purchases power and sells its excess supply to other utilities.

A company so nice they named it twice is doubling its efforts to deliver power. NRG Energy, a leading power producer with a generating capacity of about 24,500 MW (including 345 MW from renewable energy), is moving onward and upward. The vast majority of NRG's power plants are in North America, but it also has one in Australia and one in Germany. The company's global portfolio includes about 190 generation units at 47 power plants. It also markets natural gas, oil, and other commodities, and invests in district heating and cooling and alternative energy projects. Its retail unit, Reliant Energy, distributes power to more than 1.6 million residential, business, commercial, and industrial customers in Texas.

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