<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1594821482361.png" alt=" An electric substation. Brian Grimmett / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption> An electric substation. Brian Grimmett / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRIAN GRIMMETT <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/rural-kansas-electric-coops-get-millions-federal-coronavirus-relief">Kansas News Service</a>WICHITA, Kansas — Fearing what the coronavirus might
 do to the power industry, six electric cooperatives in Kansas applied 
and received up to $20 million total in loans as part of the federal <a href="https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program#section-header-5" target="_blank">Paycheck Protection Program</a>.“It looked pretty bleak,” said Doug Jackson, the general manager of <a href="https://www.rollinghills.coop/service-territory" target="_blank">Rolling Hills Electric Co-op</a> based in Beloit. It received $1.19 million to help sustain 42 full-time employees.Electric
 cooperatives are nonprofit organizations that provide power to rural 
Kansas and are run by their members. That is to say, they aren’t usually
 flush with cash. The money that comes in from customer bills each month
 is enough to pay the cost of operating.When the coronavirus 
arrived, electric co-op CEOs worried about how it might impact their 
organization’s ability to pay their own bills. So, some turned to the 
PPP, part of the $2 trillion economic stimulus package Congress passed 
in late March to help small businesses keep their workforce employed.“We were concerned we would face a loss of load (how much electricity people use),” <a href="https://www.sunflower.net/about-sunflower/" target="_blank">Sunflower Electric Power Corporation</a>
 CEO Stuart Lowry said from Hays, “and that loss of load would mean a 
loss of revenue and the loss of revenue would require that we raise 
rates.”Sunflower received $10 million in loans to support 423 jobs.One
 of the major things that brings in money for Sunflower and its 
distribution cooperatives’ is providing electricity to oil and gas pumps
 and pipelines. Many of those companies turned their wells off in April 
and May, when the price of oil dropped to about $5 a barrel, and 
momentarily even negative.Sunflower also provides electricity to
 many large agricultural operations and food industries. At the 
beginning of the pandemic, Lowry said there was uncertainty about 
whether those plants would be able to continue to operate.According
 to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the amount of electricity sold 
to industrial customers around the country in April was down 9% compared
 to the average in the previous five years; for commercial it dropped 
10%.State electricity regulators also mandated that electric companies couldn’t disconnect service for non-payment.At the beginning, the co-ops worried about what that could mean for their ability to collect. But <a href="https://www.weci.net/your-cooperative-believes-transparency" target="_blank">Wheatland Electric Cooperative</a> Director of Communications Alli Connine said that it hasn’t been as big of a problem as expected.“We’ve
 actually been surprised,” said Connine, whose co-op is in Scott City. 
“We’re actually lower (with non-payments) than what we are usually at 
and I think that’s because we’ve been proactive and encouraged our 
members to call in if they have payment difficulties.”Wheatland Electric Cooperative received between $2 and $5 million to support 138 jobs.Both Lowry and Jackson said the main goal behind applying for PPP loans was to give their organizations options and flexibility.“We
 value our employees very much and if we laid them off, they may get a 
job elsewhere and not return and then we’d have to retrain new people,” 
Jackson said.At this point, none of the co-ops that the Kansas 
News Service spoke with knows whether they’ll have to repay the loans 
(the program has a mechanism that will forgive the loan if a company 
meets certain requirements.)But leaders of the co-ops said if it helps sustain the business, it will be worth repaying parts of the loan if necessary.“We’re
 really in a position to pass the amount of our loan, dollar for dollar,
 through to the electric ratepayer,” Lowry said. “Each dollar will be a 
dollar we may not have to collect from the ratepayer.”Brian 
Grimmett reports on the environment, energy and natural resources for 
KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on 
Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/briangrimmett?lang=en">@briangrimmett</a>&nbsp;or
 email him at grimmett@kmuw.org. The Kansas News Service is a
 collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public
 Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their 
connection to public policy.

Federal virus relief helped western Kan. electric co-ops weather storm