How many electric cooperatives are in North Carolina?

32 electric cooperatives reported bundled retail electricity sales to customers in North Carolina in 2024, according to EIA. The largest is EnergyUnited Elec Member Corp, with 142,201 customers.

How many municipal and public power utilities are in North Carolina?

72 — 71 municipal utilities, 1 state-owned utility — reported bundled retail sales in North Carolina in 2024. The largest is Fayetteville Public Works Commission, with 85,435 customers.

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

Municipal utilities and public utility districts are local government entities, so they generally follow North Carolina'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.

North Carolina Public Power & Electric Co-ops: Full List

Key takeaways

104 community-owned utilities: 71 municipal utilities, 1 state-owned utility and 32 electric cooperatives reported bundled retail sales in North Carolina in 2024.
Together they served 1,889,756 of the state's 5,827,699 bundled retail customers (32%); 3 investor-owned utilities served most of the rest.
The largest public power utility is Fayetteville Public Works Commission, with 85,435 customers.
The largest electric co-op is EnergyUnited Elec Member Corp, with 142,201 customers.

Every public power utility and co-op in North Carolina

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 104 utilities

#	Utility	Type	Customers	Sales, MWh	Avg. price
1	EnergyUnited Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	142,201	2,793,594	10.29¢
2	Brunswick Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	117,339	1,616,433	13.23¢
3	Union Electric Membership Corp	Cooperative	87,751	1,614,663	12.24¢
4	Fayetteville Public Works Commission	Municipal	85,435	1,944,213	10.91¢
5	Jones-Onslow Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	84,326	1,312,980	12.43¢
6	Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	80,762	1,112,094	13.42¢
7	Rutherford Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	76,514	1,332,577	12.26¢
8	Greenville Utilities Comm	Municipal	74,118	1,765,409	10.28¢
9	Lumbee River Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	67,214	1,360,321	11.91¢
10	Wake Electric Membership Corp	Cooperative	56,062	884,421	12.62¢
11	South River Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	48,357	846,750	12.60¢
12	Town of High Point	Municipal	44,195	1,143,502	10.76¢
13	Carteret-Craven El Member Corp	Cooperative	43,136	608,876	11.77¢
14	French Broad Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	40,069	523,716	13.29¢
15	City of Wilson	Municipal	36,751	1,121,522	10.72¢
16	Four County Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	35,424	977,341	10.95¢
17	Piedmont Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	34,448	513,427	15.13¢
18	City of Concord	Municipal	34,243	936,586	10.84¢
19	Randolph Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	33,815	522,533	14.88¢
20	City of Gastonia	Municipal	31,336	722,233	10.98¢
21	Town of Apex	Municipal	31,261	427,884	11.40¢
22	Haywood Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	30,033	313,756	16.22¢
23	City of Rocky Mount	Municipal	29,188	749,986	10.29¢
24	Surry-Yadkin Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	28,379	371,991	15.77¢
25	Tri-County Elec Member Corp (NC)	Cooperative	26,981	544,684	11.90¢
26	City of New Bern	Municipal	24,952	463,921	11.71¢
27	Central Electric Membership Corp.	Cooperative	24,626	441,119	13.42¢
28	Tideland Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	24,337	355,892	14.78¢
29	Pee Dee Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	22,272	395,179	13.74¢
30	City of Lexington	Municipal	20,323	392,529	11.78¢
31	Blue Ridge Mountain EMC	Cooperative	20,240	250,873	13.84¢
32	Mountain Electric Coop, Inc	Cooperative	20,064	269,697	13.00¢
33	City of Statesville	Municipal	14,805	439,931	10.30¢
34	City of Washington	Municipal	14,282	262,507	12.80¢
35	Roanoke Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	14,115	260,919	19.13¢
36	Albemarle Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	13,870	229,055	14.00¢
37	City of Albemarle	Municipal	13,585	293,540	10.01¢
38	City of Elizabeth City	Municipal	13,496	304,223	10.63¢
39	City of Monroe	Municipal	12,905	722,901	8.63¢
40	Halifax Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	12,389	194,523	15.57¢
41	City of Kinston	Municipal	12,002	423,591	10.74¢
42	City of Lumberton	Municipal	11,848	243,267	12.95¢
43	Edgecombe-Martin County E M C	Cooperative	11,818	208,855	14.34¢
44	Pitt & Greene Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	9,168	189,145	13.80¢
45	Town of Clayton	Municipal	9,158	125,866	13.94¢
46	New River Light & Power Co	State-owned	9,097	207,010	10.99¢
47	City of Shelby	Municipal	8,941	189,947	9.91¢
48	City of Morganton	Municipal	8,868	297,150	8.42¢
49	Town of Huntersville	Municipal	8,792	295,621	9.26¢
50	Cape Hatteras Elec Member Corp	Cooperative	8,128	130,709	14.79¢
51	Town of Wake Forest	Municipal	7,552	170,007	14.48¢
52	Town of Tarboro	Municipal	6,503	214,699	11.30¢
53	City of Laurinburg	Municipal	5,559	128,152	11.13¢
54	City of Kings Mountain	Municipal	5,428	141,174	11.91¢
55	Town of Murphy	Municipal	5,413	393,189	7.48¢
56	Town of Smithfield	Municipal	5,141	166,066	10.36¢
57	Town of Ayden	Municipal	4,769	108,527	12.86¢
58	City of Newton	Municipal	4,747	151,953	10.22¢
59	Town of Pineville	Municipal	4,294	114,892	10.94¢
60	Town of Forest City	Municipal	4,269	95,666	11.18¢
61	Town of Edenton	Municipal	4,244	98,135	12.36¢
62	Town of Cornelius	Municipal	4,009	53,824	12.82¢
63	Town of Dallas	Municipal	3,847	67,373	10.44¢
64	Town of Landis	Municipal	3,654	48,585	10.17¢
65	Town of Waynesville	Municipal	3,631	76,202	14.31¢
66	City of Southport	Municipal	3,532	59,168	11.14¢
67	City of Winterville	Municipal	3,337	51,610	14.36¢
68	Town of Farmville	Municipal	3,099	46,909	13.45¢
69	Town of Selma	Municipal	3,024	63,367	11.94¢
70	City of Lincolnton	Municipal	3,004	66,817	12.13¢
71	City of Highlands	Municipal	2,938	45,759	12.58¢
72	Town of Granite Falls	Municipal	2,681	58,093	11.02¢
73	City of Cherryville	Municipal	2,568	49,152	11.78¢
74	Town of Benson	Municipal	2,185	38,701	15.06¢
75	Town of Louisburg	Municipal	2,106	53,072	13.45¢
76	Town of La Grange	Municipal	1,848	26,217	12.93¢
77	Tri-State Electric Member Corp	Cooperative	1,798	16,447	15.02¢
78	Town of Red Springs	Municipal	1,761	35,986	14.39¢
79	Town of Windsor	Municipal	1,729	44,245	11.99¢
80	Town of Scotland Neck	Municipal	1,343	23,513	14.91¢
81	Town of Stantonsburg	Municipal	1,320	19,993	13.53¢
82	Town of Maiden	Municipal	1,299	71,232	9.40¢
83	Town of Sharpsburg	Municipal	1,261	16,923	16.90¢
84	Town of Drexel	Municipal	1,256	20,407	10.85¢
85	Town of Enfield	Municipal	1,243	17,075	15.52¢
86	City of Hertford	Municipal	1,204	23,544	12.22¢
87	Town of Lucama	Municipal	1,155	17,399	13.18¢
88	Town of Belhaven	Municipal	1,106	15,826	13.94¢
89	City of Robersonville	Municipal	892	20,845	11.32¢
90	Town of Black Creek	Municipal	855	12,253	15.72¢
91	Town of Fremont	Municipal	799	10,276	14.74¢
92	Town of Pinetops	Municipal	711	18,906	13.41¢
93	Town of Pikeville	Municipal	511	7,756	14.76¢
94	Broad River Electric Coop, Inc	Cooperative	490	6,491	15.60¢
95	Town of Hookerton	Municipal	422	5,808	15.10¢
96	Town of Fountain	Municipal	301	3,789	16.92¢
97	Town of MacClesfield	Municipal	277	5,443	9.27¢
98	Town of Hobgood	Municipal	268	3,142	16.92¢
99	Town of Hamilton	Municipal	234	2,370	16.06¢
100	Town of Oak City	Municipal	224	2,997	14.27¢
101	Town of Bostic	Municipal	205	3,690	10.81¢
102	Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative	Cooperative	138	1,705	14.40¢
103	Town of Walstonburg	Municipal	136	2,261	15.33¢
104	York Electric Coop Inc	Cooperative	17	377	12.20¢

Public power vs. co-ops in North Carolina

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 North Carolina 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 North Carolina.