Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op
19831 M-68 Highway , PO Box 308 , Onaway, Michigan, United States

Mission

To provide energy and other services to sustain and improve the quality of life for our members through the use of a cooperative business structure.

Vision

Our members and Northeast Michigan will regard us as a trusted energy and community partner.

In support of our mission, we commit to the following values:

• To conduct our business with honesty and integrity.
• To treat our members and each other with fairness, dignity, and respect.
• To support the professional goals of our employees.
• To create a work environment that fosters innovation, participation, pride, ownership, safety, and enjoyment.
• To be a good citizen with attention to the environment and to the communities we serve.
• To constantly improve our performance, reliability, and value.

our  history

In the early decades of the 20th century, most of northeast Michigan was literally in the dark. On September 22, 1937, Presque Isle Electric Cooperative set its first pole in the village of Posen. The lines built that fall were the first to be energized by a cooperative in the state, bringing electricity to 82 farm homes just in time for Christmas. The “REA” cooperative soon extended lines to Montmorency and Cheboygan counties to provide electric service to rural homes.  In 1994, the co-op became Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op when it entered the natural gas business, once again providing a valuable service to citizens of rural areas when other big companies would not.  In 2019, PIE&G provides energy services to 30,800 active members. We serve approximately 12,400 natural gas meters and 33,650 electric meters throughout our nine-county service territory. We maintain 568 miles of gas pipeline and 4,909 miles of electric lines, with 3,841 miles of overhead and 1,068 miles of line underground. We serve approximately 7.5 members per mile of line.  With 77 full time employees and several more temporary employees, Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op is one of the largest employers in Presque Isle County. We are a company built on the premise of providing outstanding service to rural areas that other companies refused to serve, a premise we continue to uphold and strive to improve upon today.

Cooperative Principles

• Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.
• Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions. The elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives, members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and cooperatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.
• Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
• Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.
• Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation.