Where does your electricity come from?

Big Flat Electric Cooperative purchases electricity, then sells it to you, our members. We are considered an electric distribution cooperative.  We build the infrastructure to distribute the electricity we buy to your home, business, school, farm or ranch.

Big Flat Electric Cooperative purchases our electricity from Central Montana Electric Power Cooperative (CMEPC) based in Great Falls.  CMEPC is considered a wholesale electric supply cooperative, meaning they buy the electricity from entities that actually produce or generate the electricity.  Then they sell it to Big Flat Electric and seven other electric distribution cooperatives in Montana.

Who produces our electricity?

The electricity CMEPC purchases, then sells to Big Flat Electric, comes from two different organizations.

• Western Area Power Administration (WAPA):  The electricity WAPA provides comes from Government dams on the Missouri River drainage. Fort Peck Reservoir near Glasgow is one of the many dams that generates power for WAPA.  WAPA sells and delivers firm hydropower to not only CMEPC, but many other rural electric cooperatives, cities, public utilities, irrigation districts, state agencies and Native Americans across the Mid and Western United States.  More information about WAPA can be found on their website at: https://www.wapa.gov. 

• Basin Electric Power Cooperative: When power from the government dams became fully utilized and electric cooperatives had to look for other sources, Basin Electric Power Cooperative was formed to build generation and transmission facilities. Basin Electric has coal fired, gas fired and renewable generation to meet our needs in excess of WAPA.  Basin Electric is considered a Generation and Transmission Cooperative based out of Bismarck, ND.  More information about Basin Electric can be found on their website at: https://www.basinelectric.com.