Abstract: Cooperative distributors of electricity serve more than 25 million customers, yet relatively few researchers have scrutinized cooperative firms or isolated electrical power distribution. This study attempts to examine both topics simultaneously. The objectives of the study are: 1. describe cooperative electrical distributors and the operations; 2. determine scale economies within their enterprise; and 3. quantify their past cost disadvantages. An unconventional output definition for power distribution firms is developed and used in conjunction with a CES production function. The investigation reveals increasing returns to scale and the implied cost disadvantages for the selected sample of cooperative distributors.

　　Subjects: ELECTRIC power distribution; CONSUMER cooperatives; ECONOMIES of scale; COSTS, Industrial; Electric Power Distribution