US Electric Cooperatives Map Out First Steps for DERMS Grid Programs

How Two US Electric Cooperatives Started Their DERMS Journey

Two US electric cooperatives have publicly walked through the early stages of deploying a distributed energy resources management system (DERMS), offering a rare look at how smaller utilities approach next-generation grid management. Big Rivers Electric Corporation, based in Owensboro, Kentucky, and Ozarks Electric Cooperative, which serves parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma, described their experiences during a web event hosted by Factor This and moderated by Amy Bartak of Open Access Technology International (OATI).

A DERMS is a software platform that lets a utility see, control and coordinate flexible energy resources on its network — smart thermostats, water heaters, electric vehicle chargers and similar devices. For cooperatives, the appeal is straightforward: these tools can shave peak demand, reduce strain on generation fleets and give members a way to participate in managing the grid. But the path from interest to launch is rarely simple, and both cooperatives emphasised that the hardest work happened long before any vendor contract was signed.

At Big Rivers, Mason Milligan, manager of member technical services, recalled that internal turnover and resistance to new ideas made the initial case difficult. The cooperative responded with what it called a DERMS 101 education series aimed at senior staff, member-owners and the board, covering what the technology is, what it can do, its trade-offs and how the cooperative planned to shape it. Ozarks took a different route: it met its first DERMS vendor in late 2019 or early 2020, but energy services manager Todd Clouse said the technology at the time was largely limited to devices like water heaters and thermostats. The cooperative waited for integration capabilities to mature, then worked with the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) in 2023 to build a technology roadmap — a step Clouse credited with getting the program over the finish line and running this year.

Both cooperatives are now moving into program launch. Big Rivers is preparing a behavioural program and a smart thermostat offering, with conservation voltage reduction and potentially home generators on its longer-term list. Ozarks says it will consider any measure that benefits its members, provided the numbers work.

Why Cooperative Culture, Not Technology, Decides DERMS Success

Why Cooperative Governance Shapes DERMS Timelines

Unlike investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives answer to member-owners, and both Big Rivers and Ozarks made clear that this governance structure directly affects how — and how fast — a DERMS program moves. Big Rivers' education series was not a formality; it was a deliberate effort to build a shared vocabulary among board members and member-owners who would ultimately approve the program. Ozarks framed its approach around member satisfaction, with Clouse noting that inevitable rate increases make it essential to offer options rather than impose changes. For cooperatives considering DERMS, the implication is that stakeholder alignment is not a communications task bolted onto a technology project — it is the project's critical path.

Big Rivers Bets on an Insurance-Style Demand Response Model

Milligan described Big Rivers' initial smart thermostat strategy as closer to a MISO load-modifying resource program — a handful of seasonal events triggered by grid-constrained conditions — than to monthly peak-clipping programs. He called it an insurance policy. That framing matters commercially: it sets member expectations for infrequent, high-value interventions rather than routine curtailment, which reduces the risk of the complaints and non-participation that Milligan warned would render a program worthless. The cooperative's next phase, conservation voltage reduction across its three member-owners in unison, reflects its portfolio-asset operating model, where scale benefits are shared. Home generators rank high on Milligan's wish list because, in his words, they offer more bang for the buck.

Ozarks' Patience With Vendor Technology Paid Off

Ozarks' timeline is a case study in waiting for integration maturity. Clouse said early vendor offerings were largely device-specific — water heaters and thermostats — and the cooperative spent a couple of years waiting for seamless integration to arrive. The 2023 roadmap with NRTC gave Ozarks the structure it needed. For other utilities, the lesson is that vendor selection is less about picking the most capable platform today and more about timing deployment to when integration capabilities match the utility's existing systems.

Where the DERMS Market Goes Next

For context, US electric cooperatives collectively serve tens of millions of customers and often operate with leaner technical teams than large investor-owned utilities. That makes them a natural market for managed DERMS offerings and advisory services — a dynamic visible in this story through the roles played by OATI and NRTC. The cooperative segment's interest in demand response, EV charging coordination and conservation voltage reduction suggests vendors that can demonstrate member-friendly program design, not just grid-side control, will have an edge. The near-term test is whether Big Rivers' and Ozarks' launches produce the participation rates and peak reductions their business cases promised.

What Utilities Weighing DERMS Should Do Next

The most important insight from this story is that DERMS adoption at cooperatives succeeds or fails on internal education and member alignment long before technology selection matters.

For utility executives, board members and program managers at cooperatives or smaller municipal utilities, the practical steps that emerge from Big Rivers' and Ozarks' experiences are specific:

• Run a structured education series — Big Rivers' "DERMS 101" — covering what the technology is, its trade-offs and the planned program shape, aimed separately at senior staff, member-owners and the board.
• Build the technology roadmap with an advisory partner before committing to a vendor; Ozarks credited its 2023 NRTC roadmap with getting the program launched this year.
• Design the initial demand response program around infrequent, seasonal events tied to grid-constrained conditions — Milligan's "insurance policy" model — rather than monthly peak clipping, to reduce member friction.
• Frame the program as offering member options, particularly where rate increases are expected, as Ozarks did, rather than presenting it as a fixed mandate.
• Plan the next phase early: Big Rivers is already sequencing behavioural and thermostat programs ahead of conservation voltage reduction across its three member-owners.

Metrics worth watching over the next 12–24 months: participation rates in Big Rivers' behavioural and thermostat programs, Ozarks' program performance in its first full year, and whether Big Rivers moves conservation voltage reduction from planning to deployment across its member-owner portfolio.