In this episode of The Co-op Heroes Podcast, we sit down with Mark Gabriel, CEO of United Power, to talk about what it takes to reinvent an electric cooperative from the ground up.

Mark shares how United Power made the difficult decision to leave their G&T and rebuild their entire power supply from scratch. What started as a painful process turned into a complete transformation, replacing one power supplier with 27, raising $700 million in bonds in five weeks, and opening a 162-megawatt natural gas plant in just 20 months.

A big part of the conversation focuses on hyper-localization, United Power's strategy of generating and storing power within their own footprint to reduce transmission dependence and keep dollars in their communities. Mark explains why this approach isn't actually new. It's a Back to the Future moment, returning to the distributed model that powered the earliest days of the electric grid.

We also talk about battery storage, the real cost of small modular reactors, and why the way co-ops charge their members for electricity may need a fundamental rethink as the industry changes. Throughout the discussion, Mark makes the case that the co-ops who will thrive are the ones willing to think differently.

Featured topics

• Why United Power left their G&T and how they rebuilt their power portfolio
• Raising $700 million in bonds to fund the transition
• The hyper localization strategy and what it means for members
• How battery storage is changing the way United Power manages the grid
• The future of nuclear and the case for distributed generation

This episode is about what it looks like when a co-op outgrows the traditional model and has the courage to build something new.

The Co-op Heroes Podcast brings you real stories from electric utility operators, the people who work every day to keep our communities powered, safe, and connected.