RESCO: 90 years of keeping utilities stocked
A new Minnesota warehouse and a storm response program help RESCO, the member-owned supplier, get municipal utilities the materials they need, when they need them.
When a storm takes down power lines, how fast a utility recovers often depends on how fast crews can get transformers, conductors, and hardware. For many Minnesota municipal utilities, that is where Rural Electric Supply Cooperative, or RESCO, comes in.
RESCO is a member-owned, not-for-profit wholesale distributor of high-voltage electrical products. It is one of the largest full-line distributors in the Midwest and Northern Plains, working with more than 450 manufacturers to supply cooperative and municipal utilities, including many in Minnesota.
Its origins date to 1936, when rural electric cooperatives that were just getting started struggled to secure materials. RESCO is marking 90 years of service this year. Today, it operates fully stocked warehouses across the Upper Midwest and Northern Great Plains, ready to supply municipal and cooperative utilities whenever and wherever they need them.
RESCO prides itself on cooperative values. It works to keep prices as low as possible, returns any profits to its members as patronage and reinvests in its operations to better serve members and customers.
Minnesota utilities will soon be served from a new home. In March, RESCO broke ground on a new warehouse and offices in Dilworth, an upgrade from the Moorhead location that currently serves its Minnesota partners. Utility services for the facility will be provided by RESCO member Red River Valley Co-Op Power.
The 72,000-square-foot facility sits on 15 acres and includes 60,000 square feet of warehouse storage and 12,000 square feet of office space. According to RESCO, the added space will expand its inventory capacity and speed its response to weather-related and storm damage needs for cooperatives and municipal utilities in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Staff and inventory from Moorhead will move to the new site when it is completed, a date that is expected in early 2027, with full operations beginning in spring 2027. Dilworth will be RESCO’s third new warehouse in five years, following Elkhart, Iowa, in 2022 and Stanley, Wisconsin, in 2024.
Quick response is central to RESCO’s service, whether that comes in the form of 24/7 shipping or its storm response program, which helps utilities get back on their feet as quickly as possible after a major outage.
RESCO’s strategically located Storm Response Trailers are stocked with what crews need to restore power, from fuses, cutouts and arresters to crossarms, insulators and transformers. According to RESCO, the trailers can be delivered within hours after a storm hits, backed by 24-hour on-call shipping from all its warehouses.
Day to day, RESCO serves as an extension of utilities’ storage. Small utilities don’t always have room to keep every tool, conductor, cable accessory, piece of hardware, overhead switch, transformer and meter on hand. Weekly shipping on in-stock items and RESCO’s material forecasting help them manage inventory and costs without carrying it all themselves.
Minnesota utilities can reach RESCO at 800-346-3330. For immediate storm response assistance, call 866-273-5030.
