Northern Plains Electric Cooperative Inc

What Northern Plains Electric Cooperative Inc does

Northern Plains Electric Cooperative Inc is a member-owned, not-for-profit rural electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Cando, North Dakota, with a second office in Carrington. It provides electricity distribution and member services to residential, agricultural, and small commercial accounts across a rural service territory in north-central North Dakota, operating under an exclusive franchise and a Touchstone Energy cooperative brand identity.

The cooperative's core product is electric distribution, supported by a standard set of utility member services. These include the SmartHub customer portal and Storm Center outage management platform (delivered through a technology partnership with NISC), an interactive outage map, capital credits retirement program, Operation Round Up charitable giving, student programs, and a new Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and solar research project for member-sited generation. It is also executing a Wildfire Mitigation Plan that includes substation electronic recloser installations. Operational and financial partnerships include NISC (technology), Touchstone Energy Cooperatives (cooperative branding), USDA (federal financing), and North Dakota One Call (utility locate services).

The business model is the standard rural electric cooperative structure: members purchase electricity at regulated rates, with surplus allocated as capital credits and retired on a patronage basis, and the cooperative finances capital projects through long-term, low-cost USDA and cooperative-bank lending. Revenue is derived from member electric rates set in coordination with state and federal regulators, with no competitive alternative provider within the service territory. The cooperative is governed by a member-elected board, and operational scale is implied by a multi-thousand-member base (proxied by the ~$37K annual Operation Round Up contributions) and a current capital program that includes new office construction and grid-hardening investments.

Name

Northern Plains Electric Cooperative Inc

Legal name

Northern Plains Electric Cooperative

Website

https://nplains.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Northern Plains Electric Cooperative Inc is a member-owned rural electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Cando, North Dakota, serving residential, agricultural, and small commercial members across north-central North Dakota through regulated electric distribution and member programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Electric Utility Distribution

NAICS

Electric Power Distribution (221122), Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution (2211)

SIC

Electric Services (4911)

akta.pro primary industry

Electric Cooperatives (Rural/Member-Owned Utilities) (EUADABAC)

Keywords

• Rural electric distribution
• Member-owned cooperative
• Capital credits program
• Distributed energy resources
• Outage management services

Headquarters

HQ city

Cando

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Electric Service Revenue: Monthly electricity distribution services to residential, agricultural, and commercial members in rural North Dakota. Operates as a not-for-profit cooperative where margins are allocated back to members as capital credits.

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Northern Plains Electric Cooperative is a member-owned electric utility cooperative that distributes electricity to residential, agricultural, and commercial members across rural North Dakota. The cooperative provides electric service at the lowest possible cost consistent with sound business practices, returning margins to members as capital credits. Member-facing services include the SmartHub online portal, interactive outage map, distributed energy resource programs, energy efficiency education, and community programs such as Operation Round Up and youth initiatives.

Product overview

Northern Plains Electric Cooperative is a member-owned electric utility cooperative providing electrical service to residential and business members across North Dakota. The cooperative operates two office locations in Cando and Carrington. Rather than a technology platform, the cooperative offers a portfolio of member services including electrical distribution, the SmartHub member portal for bill payment and outage reporting, capital credits returns, charitable giving through Operation Round Up, distributed energy resource programs including solar research, and educational resources on energy efficiency. The cooperative also provides youth programs, economic development support, and partners with Touchstone Energy Cooperatives for branding.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Electric Distribution Service Core electric distribution service delivered to residential, agricultural, and commercial members across rural North Dakota through owned grid infrastructure.
• SmartHub Member Portal Online portal for members to view and pay electric bills, report outages, and manage account information, powered by the NISC SmartHub platform.
• Outage Map Interactive map showing current power outages in the cooperative's service territory, allowing members to check outage status in their area.
• Storm Center Resource center providing outage reporting instructions, safety guidance during power outages, and links to current outage information.
• Capital Credits Program Member benefit program where cooperative margins are returned to members as capital credits, effectively rebating excess revenue to those who fund the cooperative.
• Operation Round Up Charitable giving program where participating members round their electric bills up to the next dollar, with extra funds distributed to local organizations and individuals in need, raising approximately $37,000 annually.
• Distributed Energy Resource Program Program supporting solar energy research and establishing policies for distributed energy resources, including customer-owned distributed generation within the cooperative's service territory.
• Student Programs Youth educational programs including Legislative Field Trips, Power Plant Tours, Safety Poster Contest, Scholarship, and Youth Tour to educate students about the electric industry.
• Call Before You Dig Safety service coordinating with North Dakota One Call (811) to mark underground utilities before digging, required by state law to prevent damage to utility lines.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• NISC (National Information Solutions Cooperative)coreTechnology or IntegrationNISC provides the SmartHub online portal platform enabling members to access accounts, pay bills, and manage electric service online. NISC is an information technology cooperative serving utility partners.
• Touchstone Energy CooperativescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational brand alliance of electric cooperatives providing shared marketing identity, brand standards, and cooperative networking. Northern Plains Electric Cooperative displays Touchstone Energy branding.
• North Dakota One CallcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState-required utility locate service allowing contractors and homeowners to call 811 before digging to identify underground utilities including power lines, preventing damage and ensuring worker safety.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Otter Tail Power Company: Investor-owned regulated electric utility serving parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. Adjacent incumbent serving overlapping rural North Dakota load with similar reliability and rate-base economics.
• Basin Electric Power Cooperative: Large wholesale generation and transmission cooperative serving member distribution systems across the northern Great Plains. A relevant incumbent counterparty that supplies and shapes the wholesale power environment for Northern Plains.

Regional players

• Minnkota Power Cooperative: Regional generation-and-transmission cooperative based in Grand Forks, ND serving cooperatives in North Dakota and Minnesota. Connected wholesale supplier/peer providing generation and transmission to distribution co-ops like Northern Plains.
• Central Power Electric Cooperative: Regional G&T cooperative in North Dakota providing high-voltage transmission and power supply to member distribution cooperatives. Comparable in cooperative structure and tied to many of the same distribution peers.

Direct peers

• Verendrye Electric Cooperative: Electric distribution cooperative serving central North Dakota from Minot. Direct peer with similar rural service territory, USDA financing, and member-owned cooperative structure.
• Nodak Electric Cooperative: North Dakota's largest member-owned electric distribution cooperative, serving eastern North Dakota. Direct rural distribution co-op peer with overlapping Touchstone Energy and USDA financing context and a similar capital credits model.
• Burke-Divide Electric Cooperative: Small rural electric distribution cooperative in northwestern North Dakota. Closely comparable on size profile, member-owned model, and rural operating economics.
• Capital Electric Cooperative: Electric distribution cooperative serving the Bismarck-Mandan region of North Dakota. Direct peer with comparable retail distribution operations, capital credits, and member services portfolio.
• Cass County Electric Cooperative: Electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Kindred, North Dakota. Direct peer operating in the same regulatory and geographic environment with comparable capital credits, exclusive territory, and member-focused programs.

Others

• Touchstone Energy Cooperatives: National brand and services alliance of electric cooperatives. Northern Plains is a member; highly relevant as an ecosystem peer that defines shared branding, marketing, and procurement leverage across the cooperative sector.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NPlainsElectric
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/northern-plains-electric-cooperative

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Northern Plains Electric Cooperative Inc