Electric Membership Corporation (EMC): What It Is and Where They Operate

An electric membership corporation, usually shortened to EMC, is a member-owned electric cooperative that is organised under a state electric membership corporation law. The people who buy power from an EMC are its members and owners. The EMC does not pay profits to outside shareholders, and any revenue above its costs is allocated back to members as capital credits. "EMC" is a legal and naming label, not a different kind of business: it is the same member-owned electric cooperative model, carrying the name its state law gives it.

The label is strongest in Georgia and North Carolina. The 2025 federal utility survey lists 63 cooperative utilities with "Member Corp" or "Membership Corp" in their names that sell power to customers: 31 headquartered in Georgia, 22 in North Carolina, four in Tennessee, three in Alabama, two in Louisiana and one in Indiana. Together they report about 3.8 million customers. The table further down lists the largest, with the data year and file named so you can check every figure.

What an EMC is

An EMC has four features that matter to a customer:

1. Members own it. You become a member by taking electric service. There is no stock to buy on an exchange.
2. Members elect the board. Directors are chosen by the membership, usually one member, one vote, at an annual meeting or by mail or online ballot.
3. It runs at cost. The EMC sets rates to cover purchased power, lines, staff, debt and reserves, not to pay a return to investors.
4. Margins go back to members. Revenue above cost is allocated to members in proportion to what they paid for electricity. Those allocations are capital credits.

The legal basis comes from state law. Georgia's Code defines an "electric membership corporation" or "EMC" as one organised under that state's EMC article, and the definition also reaches corporations organised under earlier Georgia EMC laws and certain corporations that elected to be governed by the 1937 Electric Membership Corporation Act (O.C.G.A. section 46-3-171). North Carolina has its own Electric Membership Corporation Act in Article 2 of Chapter 117 of its General Statutes. Georgia EMC, the state trade association, describes Georgia's EMCs as not-for-profit utilities owned by their members.

Because the form comes from state law, the details differ by state: how a board is elected, what the corporation may do besides sell electricity, and how the state regulates it. Read your own EMC's bylaws and your state's statute if a specific right matters to you. What an EMC may do beyond selling electricity is a legal question set by that statute, not only a business choice.

Where the term is used

The table below shows where cooperative utilities carry the EMC name in the 2025 federal data. It counts utilities whose listed name contains "Member Corp" or "Membership Corp" (or "EMC"), headquartered in each state, and the customers they report across all the states they serve.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, data year 2025, files Utility_Data_2025.xlsx (state and name) and Sales_Ult_Cust_2025.xlsx (customer counts, total of residential, commercial, industrial and transportation). Totals were added up from the file. Names in the file are EIA's abbreviations, so "Member Corp" there stands for the full name, which is usually "Membership Corporation". The count is a name match, so an EMC listed under a different name would not appear, and the number is not an official count of EMCs. Georgia's state EMC association cites a higher number of EMCs than the 31 shown here, so treat 31 as a count of name matches in this file, not of every EMC.

Other states use other legal forms for the same kind of business. The federal file also carries EMC-style names in Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Indiana (Tipmont Rural Electric Member Corp is the Indiana one). Most cooperatives in other states are simply named electric cooperatives and follow the same ownership model. The legal name on your bill is what to look for.

How EMCs differ from other electric co-ops

For a customer the day-to-day difference is small. The differences that do exist are about law and structure:

Three points are worth keeping straight:

• EMC is not a separate tier of the power system. Like any distribution co-op, most EMCs buy wholesale power from a generation and transmission supplier. See generation and transmission cooperatives.
• EMC is not the same as an investor-owned utility. An investor-owned utility answers to shareholders and earns a regulated return. An EMC answers to its members. For the comparison, read electric cooperative vs investor-owned utility.
• An EMC is not a "membership" you buy. In everyday speech "membership" suggests a club with dues. At an EMC you become a member through service, sometimes with a small one-time fee or deposit, and the money you pay for power is the basis of your share of any capital credits.

The largest EMCs by customers

The 20 largest EMC-named utilities in the 2025 federal data, ranked by customers. Sales are the energy sold to end customers in megawatt-hours (MWh) over the year. State is the headquarters state in the file.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, data year 2025 (files Utility_Data_2025.xlsx and Sales_Ult_Cust_2025.xlsx, "States" sheets). Customers and sales are the "Total" columns, summed across every state a utility reports. The 20 rows add up to 2,409,183 customers and 49,000,934 MWh, computed from the file; that is about 63% of the customers of all the EMC-named utilities counted above.

How to read it: the ranking is by customers, so a utility with big industrial load can sell more energy than a larger-count neighbour. Walton, for example, has fewer customers than Sawnee but sells more energy. A few EMCs serve across a state line: Tri-County in Tennessee reports customers in Kentucky and Tennessee, and Okefenoke in Georgia reports customers in Florida and Georgia, so the state column is where the utility is based, not the only place it serves.

For context, the same files list 554 cooperative utilities that report retail sales, with about 21.3 million customers in total. The EMC-named group above is therefore roughly 18% of all customers of cooperatives in the federal survey.

What members get from an EMC

A vote. Each member has a say in board elections. Participation at annual meetings is often low, so contested elections and written ballots matter when members want a change.

Capital credits. When the EMC finishes a year with revenue above cost, the board allocates the margin to members. The allocation is a bookkeeping credit at first. Later the board retires old years and pays them out in cash or as a bill credit. Read capital credits for allocation vs retirement, a worked example, and what happens to former members and estates.

A say in local decisions. What an EMC may offer, and how it must treat members, is set by the state EMC act and the EMC's own bylaws, which members can read and, through the board, change.

A trade-off to know. You get ownership and at-cost pricing. Check your own territory before assuming you can choose a different supplier, because the right to serve an area is usually set by state law and the utility's service territory.

How to find out if your power comes from an EMC

1. Check the name on your power bill. A name with "EMC", "Electric Membership Corporation" or "Electric Cooperative" means a member-owned utility.
2. Look for a membership line. Co-op bills often show a member or account number, and the annual meeting notice or a capital credit notice is a sign of cooperative ownership.
3. Ask the utility or look up your state association. Georgia and North Carolina both have state trade associations that list their members.
4. Use the directory. The cooperatives directory lists electric cooperatives by state.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an electric membership corporation?

An electric membership corporation is a member-owned electric cooperative organised under a state EMC law. The customers are the owners, they elect the board, and the utility sells power at cost. Revenue above cost is allocated to members as capital credits.

What does EMC stand for in electricity?

In a utility name, EMC stands for electric membership corporation. In other settings the same letters can mean unrelated things, such as electromagnetic compatibility in engineering, but on a power bill it means the member-owned utility.

Which states have EMCs?

In the 2025 federal utility survey, utilities with EMC-style names are headquartered in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Indiana, with the heaviest concentration in Georgia and North Carolina. Georgia and North Carolina each have a state law that uses the term "electric membership corporation". Other states use "rural electric cooperative" or similar terms for the same type of business.

Is an EMC the same as an electric cooperative?

In practice yes. An EMC is an electric cooperative whose legal form comes from a state electric membership corporation act. The ownership, governance and at-cost pricing are the same as at any other member-owned electric co-op.

Are EMC rates lower than other utilities?

Not necessarily. EMCs serve less dense territory, which costs more per customer, but they do not add a return for shareholders. Rates depend on wholesale power costs, density and the state. Compare your own bill rather than relying on a general claim.

Can I vote in an EMC election?

Yes, members vote. Notices of the annual meeting, candidates and ballots come from the EMC. Check your EMC's bylaws for the rules on who can vote and how.

Do EMC members get money back?

Often, over time. Margins are allocated to members as capital credits and paid out when the board retires them. The timing varies by EMC and is decided by the board. See capital credits.

Who regulates an EMC?

It depends on the state. Your state's EMC act and the EMC's bylaws describe how much oversight a state regulator has and how much is left to the member-elected board.

Where to go next

• Electric cooperatives: the full guide
• Capital credits: what they are and how they are paid
• Generation and transmission cooperatives
• Electric cooperative vs investor-owned utility
• Patronage refunds
• Rural cooperatives
• Browse the cooperative directory