Michael Smith

VP Tech and Business Strategy at Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina

Mike Smith serves as vice president of business and technology strategy for The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, the state association of 20 independent, member-owned electric utilities in the state. Mike works with state and national partners to develop understanding of how technology is changing the utility industry. A registered professional engineer in South Carolina, his work includes contributions to the development of the Distributed Energy Resource Program Act (Act 236), adopted by the General Assembly in 2014. The legislation was a compromise across multiple interests and organizations that opened the way for more distributed energy production in South Carolina. He contributes to another inclusive effort to develop the South Carolina State Energy plan. He is also the program manager for Help My House, a whole-home weatherization program offered through the electric cooperatives. This program was recently granted a $13 million no-interest loan from RUS to weatherize both site-built and manufactured homes, repayment of which will be made through on-bill financing. Prior to coming to the co-ops’ association, Mike worked 11 years at Central Electric Power Cooperative, the generation and transmission cooperative that acts as the power aggregator for South Carolina cooperatives.

The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc. is the state association of independent, member-owned electric cooperatives. More than 1.3 million South Carolinians in all 46 counties use power provided by electric cooperatives. Together, the co-ops operate the state’s largest electric power system with more than 70,000 miles of power lines across 70 percent of the state. More information is available at www.ecsc.org.