Tongue River Electric Cooperative

What Tongue River Electric Cooperative does

Tongue River Electric Cooperative (TRECO) is a member-owned, nonprofit electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Ashland, Montana, that delivers electricity to approximately 2,630 residential, agricultural, and commercial members across rural Eastern Montana, including members residing on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. The cooperative was incorporated on January 22, 1946, and first energized service on September 9, 1949, financed in part through low-interest 35-year loans from the Rural Electrification Administration under the Rural Electrification Act. The original service territory was assembled by acquiring Bureau of Indian Affairs distribution lines (Colstrip to Lame Deer and Busby), the Ashland diesel plant customer base, and Judge Jones' Broadus operation. TRECO is governed by a member-elected Board of Directors, with a dedicated seat for a Northern Cheyenne Tribe representative (Diana McLean).

The cooperative's product surface is organized around five published rate schedules — Schedule A (Single Phase / residential), Schedule SL (Street and Security Lighting), Schedule GS-3 (General Service Three Phase / commercial), Schedule IS (Irrigation Service), and Schedule LP (Large Power Service) — with new schedules effective December 26, 2025. Member-facing digital services include the SmartHub online portal for bill payment and account management, an IVR phone payment line, a real-time Outage Map, and a Net Metering program for member-owned renewable generation. A TRECO Solar Demonstration Project, monitored publicly via SolarWeb, signals the cooperative's first distributed renewable generation initiative. Capital Credits, the cooperative's distinctive profit-allocation mechanism, returns annual operating margins to members based on electricity usage, with allocations held roughly 20 years as operating capital before retirement.

Revenue is generated through usage-based billing across the five rate classes, supplemented by prepayment service and heat-rate options. As a cooperative, TRECO has no shareholders and no external parent company; surplus is allocated to members rather than distributed to equity holders. The cooperative maintains a small operational footprint of 11–50 staff across Ashland, Broadus, and Miles City, led by General Manager/CEO Nick Oelkers. Marketing and member-acquisition channels are predominantly community-based — website, Rural Montana Magazine, social media hashtags, the Youth Tour program, and scholarship partnerships with MECA and BASIN Electric Power Cooperative — consistent with the cooperative's member-relations-driven GTM motion rather than conventional sales-led growth.

Name

Tongue River Electric Cooperative

Legal name

Tongue River Electric Cooperative, Inc

Website

https://tongueriverelectric.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tongue River Electric Cooperative is a member-owned, nonprofit electric distribution utility serving approximately 2,630 residential, agricultural, and commercial members across rural Eastern Montana, including the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, operating under REA-era infrastructure and member-elected governance.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Rural Electric Distribution

NAICS

Electric Power Distribution (221122)

SIC

Electric Services (4911)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Electric distribution services
• Rural electric cooperative
• Agricultural irrigation power
• Member-owned utility
• Electric service billing

Headquarters

HQ city

Ashland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Electric Service Revenue: The cooperative generates revenue through electricity distribution fees charged to its 2,630 member-owners. As a nonprofit cooperative, revenues exceeding costs are allocated back to members as capital credits rather than distributed to shareholders.
2. Capital Credits: Members are allocated capital credits based on their electricity usage relative to total cooperative usage. These allocations are held for approximately 20 years as operating capital and retired (paid back) when the cooperative's financial position permits.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Tongue River Electric Cooperative distributes electricity to approximately 2,630 member-owners across rural Eastern Montana through cooperative-owned power lines. Services are structured around multiple rate schedules covering residential single-phase, commercial three-phase, irrigation, large power, and street/security lighting customers. The cooperative supplements core distribution with member-facing digital tools (SmartHub portal, Outage Map) and member benefit programs including Capital Credits and Net Metering.

Product overview

Tongue River Electric Cooperative (TRECO) is a member-owned electric utility providing electricity to approximately 2,630 members across eastern Montana. The cooperative operates as a single unified service offering centered on electricity distribution, with multiple rate schedules tailored to customer type (residential single-phase, commercial three-phase, irrigation, large power, and street lighting). Member-facing digital services include SmartHub (online bill pay and account management), a solar demonstration project with monitoring capabilities, and a real-time outage map. TRECO also offers member benefit programs including capital credits (annual profit allocation based on usage), net metering for renewable energy producers, and educational programs including scholarships and a youth tour. The cooperative was incorporated in 1946 and first energized in 1949.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SmartHub Online Portal
• Capital Credits Program
• Net Metering Program
• TRECO Solar Demonstration Project
• IVR Pay by Phone Service
• Outage Map Service
• Single Phase Electric Service (Schedule A)
• Street and Security Lighting Service (Schedule SL)
• General Service Three Phase (Schedule GS-3)
• Irrigation Electric Service (Schedule IS)

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)coreOthersThe BIA had built lines from Colstrip to Lame Deer and Busby in the 1930s to serve administrative facilities and schools. TRECO acquired these BIA lines, which began extensive electric service to nearly all areas of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.
• SmartHubcoreTechnology or IntegrationOnline member portal platform used by TRECO for bill payment, account management, and outage reporting. Members access SmartHub for PayNow and login features.
• MECA (Montana Electric Cooperatives' Association)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMontana Electric Cooperatives' Association provides scholarship programs available to TRECO members. TRECO distributes MECA scholarship information and applications to its members.
• BASIN Electric Power CooperativeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPower supplier providing scholarship opportunities to TRECO members. TRECO distributes BASIN scholarship information and applications to its membership.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Musselshell-Judith Gap Electric Cooperative: A small rural electric distribution cooperative in central Montana. Direct peer in scale, cooperative governance, capital credit program, and reliance on a generation-and-transmission supplier for wholesale power—much as TRECO relies on BASIN.
• Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative: A Montana rural electric cooperative providing distribution service across Yellowstone and surrounding counties. Direct peer because it shares the same cooperative model, two-phase/three-phase rural service approach, and member capital-credit system as TRECO.
• Beartooth Electric Cooperative: A member-owned electric distribution cooperative serving south-central Montana communities including Red Lodge and Joliet. Direct peer due to comparable rural Montana geography, residential and seasonal-load rate schedules, and SmartHub-class member portal deployment.
• Lower Yellowstone Rural Electric Cooperative: A member-owned rural electric distribution cooperative serving portions of Eastern Montana and North Dakota. Direct peer to TRECO because both are NRECA-style electric cooperatives operating in adjacent Eastern Montana territories with similar mix of residential, farm/ranch, and irrigation members.
• McCone Electric Cooperative: A rural electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Circle, Montana, serving McCone and surrounding counties. Direct peer because it operates an analogous member-owned distribution model in low-density Eastern Montana farmland with comparable residential and irrigation load.
• Tri-County Electric Cooperative (Montana): A Montana rural electric cooperative serving portions of northwestern Montana. Direct peer as another REA-era distribution cooperative with analogous capital-credit structure, residential and irrigation rate classes, and small-staff operating model.
• Fergus Electric Cooperative: A member-owned electric distribution cooperative serving central Montana around Lewistown. Direct peer with a similar Rural Electrification Act heritage, cooperative governance structure, and diversified rate-schedule mix across rural farming and ranching members.

Broad incumbents

• BASIN Electric Power Cooperative: A large generation-and-transmission cooperative headquartered in North Dakota that supplies wholesale power to TRECO and roughly 100 other member coops across nine states. Broad incumbent upstream counterparty comparable because it dictates TRECO's wholesale energy costs and scholarship/coordination programs.

Regional players

• Powder River Energy Corporation: A Touchstone Energy rural electric cooperative serving northeastern Wyoming with spillover service into southeastern Montana. Regional peer comparable in customer composition (ranch/agricultural/residential), capital-credit structure, and grid-scale operations to TRECO.
• Sheridan Electric Cooperative: A member-owned rural electric cooperative serving Sheridan County, Wyoming, in the same wider Powder River/Bighorn region as TRECO. Comparable as a regional rural electric distribution peer with similar geographic, demographic, and load profile characteristics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TongueRiverEle1
• Facebookfacebook.com/TongueRiverElectricCoop

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Tongue River Electric Cooperative