In some communities with an electric co-op or municipal utility, the electric load is dominated by a large industrial customer. As the large customer may also be a significant employer in the community, there is sometimes a hesitancy when approving needed rate increases. The oversight board may get "cold feet" at decision time and not approve the full rate increase required to recover the large customer's cost of service, leading to other customer classes subsidizing the large customer's rates.

That situation is changing, as the trend in electric ratemaking is towards more cost of service-based rates. Here’s a municipal utility’s story on how they worked closely with the customer to keep their relationship and obtain buy-in from the customer.