How many electric cooperatives are in Louisiana?

12 electric cooperatives reported bundled retail electricity sales to customers in Louisiana in 2024, according to EIA. The largest is Dixie Electric Membership Corp, with 119,120 customers.

How many municipal and public power utilities are in Louisiana?

21 — 20 municipal utilities, 1 public utility district — reported bundled retail sales in Louisiana in 2024. The largest is City of Lafayette, with 72,343 customers.

How do public power utilities and co-ops in Louisiana buy?

Municipal utilities and public utility districts are local government entities, so they generally follow Louisiana's public procurement laws, with purchases approved by a city council or utility board. Electric co-ops are private, member-owned nonprofits that set their own purchasing policies, though projects financed through USDA's Rural Utilities Service follow its rules. See how utilities buy.

Where does this data come from?

From the U.S. Energy Information Administration's table "2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total" (Table 10), based on forms EIA-861 and EIA-861S. It counts customers who buy both electricity and delivery from the utility.

Louisiana Public Power & Electric Co-ops: Full List

Key takeaways

33 community-owned utilities: 20 municipal utilities, 1 public utility district and 12 electric cooperatives reported bundled retail sales in Louisiana in 2024.
Together they served 616,195 of the state's 2,464,334 bundled retail customers (25%); 4 investor-owned utilities served most of the rest.
The largest public power utility is City of Lafayette, with 72,343 customers.
The largest electric co-op is Dixie Electric Membership Corp, with 119,120 customers.

Every public power utility and co-op in Louisiana

Ranked by bundled retail customers in 2024, with retail sales in megawatt-hours and average price in cents per kilowatt-hour. Names are as EIA abbreviates them. Filter by type or search.

Showing all 33 utilities

#	Utility	Type	Customers	Sales, MWh	Avg. price
1	Dixie Electric Membership Corp	Cooperative	119,120	2,264,271	11.74¢
2	Southwest Louisiana E M C	Cooperative	117,346	2,526,261	11.53¢
3	City of Lafayette	Municipal	72,343	1,976,608	9.23¢
4	Washington-St Tammany E C, Inc	Cooperative	55,599	1,007,933	11.77¢
5	Beauregard Electric Coop, Inc	Cooperative	44,510	1,479,291	10.69¢
6	Claiborne Electric Coop, Inc	Cooperative	24,175	592,421	12.27¢
7	City of Alexandria	Municipal	23,460	646,818	10.80¢
8	South Louisiana Elec Coop Assn	Cooperative	21,313	501,606	13.77¢
9	Northeast Louisiana Power Coop Inc.	Cooperative	17,755	265,810	11.50¢
10	Terrebonne Parish Consol Gov't	Municipal	13,804	306,367	10.64¢
11	Concordia Electric Coop, Inc	Cooperative	13,788	190,737	14.45¢
12	City of Ruston	Municipal	11,857	297,397	4.82¢
13	Jefferson Davis Elec Coop, Inc	Cooperative	10,725	232,401	12.85¢
14	Pointe Coupee Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	10,673	211,392	13.28¢
15	Panola-Harrison Elec Coop, Inc	Cooperative	9,392	178,901	8.69¢
16	City of Natchitoches	Municipal	8,481	269,986	7.84¢
17	City of Minden	Municipal	6,319	126,151	14.72¢
18	Morgan City	Municipal	5,652	154,658	11.32¢
19	City of Abbeville	Municipal	5,392	128,678	9.50¢
20	City of Plaquemine	Municipal	4,948	97,351	12.06¢
21	City of Rayne	Municipal	3,820	68,607	14.48¢
22	City of St Martinville	Municipal	2,677	60,712	8.33¢
23	City of Winnfield	Municipal	2,418	54,754	10.91¢
24	Town of Vidalia	Municipal	2,188	109,400	9.79¢
25	City of Kaplan	Municipal	1,985	38,373	10.48¢
26	Town of Welsh	Municipal	1,720	34,584	6.86¢
27	Town of Vinton	Municipal	1,564	31,952	9.84¢
28	City of Jonesville	Municipal	1,068	20,418	13.79¢
29	City of Erath	Municipal	927	18,048	12.42¢
30	Town of Gueydan	Municipal	721	12,605	11.82¢
31	Town of Boyce	Municipal	348	4,600	12.67¢
32	Ashley Chicot Elec Coop, Inc	Cooperative	104	1,481	13.30¢
33	Vinton Public Power Authority	Public utility district	3	442,573	5.63¢

Public power vs. co-ops in Louisiana

Public power utilities — municipal utilities, public utility districts and state-owned utilities — are owned by the communities they serve and governed by a city council or elected board. They buy much like local governments: through public bids, board approvals and published budgets.
Electric cooperatives are private, not-for-profit utilities owned by their members, who elect the board. Most buy power from a generation and transmission (G&T) co-op and make purchasing decisions through their own policies, often faster than public agencies.

Both publish their plans: watch board and council agendas, budgets, capital improvement plans and rate filings. Our utility funding tracker and rate case & IRP tracker show where the money is coming from.

Selling to Louisiana utilities

Start with the right person. Line, engineering, metering, IT and member-services managers usually define the need; the general manager or CEO and the board approve large purchases.
Use the networks. State public power and cooperative associations, joint action agencies and G&T co-ops shape purchasing and share vendor experiences.
Expect small teams. Many of the utilities on this list have only a handful of staff, so phone outreach and a clear reason to talk matter.

Read our guide to how public power, co-ops and water utilities buy, or see the largest public power utilities and largest electric co-ops nationally.

About this data

Source. EIA's "2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total" (Table 10), from forms EIA-861 and EIA-861S. Average price is EIA's revenue divided by sales.
Bundled customers only. The table counts customers who buy both energy and delivery from the utility, so it excludes distribution-only utilities and customers who buy energy from another supplier in retail-choice areas.
Community-owned utilities only. This page lists municipal, public utility district, state-owned and cooperative utilities. Investor-owned and federal utilities are left out.

Sources

U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2024 Utility Bundled Retail Sales – Total (Table 10): eia.gov

Public power utilities and electric co-ops in Louisiana.