Cooperative · Minnesota · EIA 1884
BENCO Electric Cooperative
Cooperative · Minnesota · 20K customers. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's EIA Form 861, reliability for 2023 shows SAIDI 128 minutes/customer.
Reliability verdict
BENCO Electric Cooperative shows above-average chronic reliability in 2023: 80 minutes SAIDI excluding major events across 20K customers.
- 128 min
- SAIDI 2023
- 1.00
- SAIFI 2023
- 80 min
- SAIDI ex-MED
- 20K
- Customers
Chronic reliability judged on SAIDI excluding major event days when reported (IEEE 1366). Source: EIA Form 861 · August 2026.
Signature read: mid-cohort SAIDI between the 96 and 258 minute tercile cuts.
What mid-pack BENCO Electric Cooperative filings show
BENCO Electric Cooperative is a member-owned electric cooperative operating in Minnesota under EIA identifier 1884. It reports service to approximately 19,764 customer accounts and generated about $0.05 billion in annual electric revenue, with a service footprint spanning 38 ZIP codes. As a cooperative, its governance is accountable to its ratepayer-members rather than shareholders, which often shapes rate-setting and reinvestment priorities.
In 2023, the average BENCO Electric Cooperative customer experienced 128.3 minutes of power interruptions, a metric called SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index). That places this utility well below the 120–180 minute national benchmark, signaling strong grid hardening and fast restoration practices. SAIFI, the average number of outage events per customer, was 1.00 for the same period, so customers statistically faced roughly 1 distinct interruption that year. Excluding major event days (hurricanes, ice storms), SAIDI drops to 80.2 minutes, the gap between that figure and the headline 128.3 reveals how much weather, not day-to-day infrastructure, drove outages.
BENCO Electric Cooperative has 4 years of continuous EIA reporting on file (2020–2023), enough to read a real trend rather than a single-year snapshot. SAIDI dropped from 142.7 to 128.3 minutes across that span, a direction regulators and prospective customers tend to watch closely.
Based on this utility's own EIA Form 861 reliability record -- baseline (major-event- excluded) outage duration, total outage duration, and outage frequency -- each benchmarked against every reporting utility nationwide. Not a measure of electricity rates or customer service, which this portal does not track.
128 min/year per customer
Annual minutes without electric service (2023)
SAIDI by year (2020-2023)
Minutes per customer-year · EIA Form 861
Year-by-year SAIDI for BENCO Electric Cooperative from the same EIA filings as the table below. Lower is better; major-event years can spike the headline figure.
BENCO Electric Cooperative SAIDI trend
BENCO Electric Cooperative vs the nationwide SAIDI distribution
Where this utility's headline SAIDI sits among every EIA Form 861 utility with a reported figure
128 Lower than most fewer outage minutes than 58% of 911 utilities
Utilities nationwide, banded by latest reported SAIDI (minutes)
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more utilities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. EIA Form 861 reliability filings · August 2026
Price vs. reliability
Where BENCO Electric Cooperative sits on price vs. reliability
Among the 781 U.S. utilities large enough to report both revenue per customer and a recent outage record, BENCO Electric Cooperative charges more per customer than 61% of them, and is more reliable (lower SAIDI) than 62% of them, placing it in the quadrant where it pays more and is more reliable. Revenue per customer and outage minutes are independent figures: paying more does not guarantee fewer outages.
Revenue per customer: $2,723/year · Latest SAIDI: 128.3 minutes/year.
SAIDI 2023 breakdown: 128.3 minutes
Reliability Trend (2020–2023)
| Year | SAIDI (min) | SAIDI nMED | SAIFI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 142.7 | 113.7 | 1.392 |
| 2021 | 101.9 | 62.8 | 0.850 |
| 2022 | 106.6 | 80.9 | 0.927 |
| 2023 | 128.3 | 80.2 | 1.000 |
SAIDI nMED = SAIDI without major event days. Source: EIA Form 861.
Service Area
BENCO Electric Cooperative serves 38 ZIP codes in Minnesota.
Frequently Asked Questions
How reliable is BENCO Electric Cooperative?
BENCO Electric Cooperative had a SAIDI of 128.3 minutes in 2023. Excluding major storm impacts, this beats the national average, a sign of above-average reliability.
What type of utility is BENCO Electric Cooperative?
BENCO Electric Cooperative is classified as a Cooperative serving Minnesota.
How many customers does BENCO Electric Cooperative serve?
BENCO Electric Cooperative serves approximately 19,764 customers in Minnesota.
How has BENCO Electric Cooperative's reliability changed over time?
BENCO Electric Cooperative has 4 years of reliability data (2020-2023). SAIDI has held roughly steady across these years. Review the trend table above for year-by-year detail.
Utility Profile
- Type
- Cooperative
- State
- Minnesota
- Customers
- 19,764
- Annual Revenue
- $0.05B
- EIA ID
- 1884
Explore
Utilities with similar EIA profiles
Two cross-state peer sets for BENCO Electric Cooperative. Same-state SAIDI neighbors stay in Read-with below; these neighborhoods are nearest other-state utilities with at least 10,000 reported customers.
Similar customer count
Nearest utilities by Form 861 customers (20K here), outside Minnesota.
Similar chronic SAIDI
Nearest utilities by latest SAIDI minutes (128.3 here), outside Minnesota, excluding the customer-peer set.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Form 861 annual electric power industry survey · ZIP service territory: OpenEI. Disclaimer: informational only, not professional advice. See full disclaimer · methodology.