With temperatures plunging as low as 26 degrees below zero, Ben Albright hustled out of his house early one morning last week to start his chore tractors after rolling blackouts cut his power off for the second day in a row.

“I was able to hurry up, get bundled up and run outside and start my equipment that was plugged in. My biggest concern was that my loader and tractor wouldn’t start since the power was off,” said Albright, a Calhoun County Farm Bureau member. Making sure his cattle were fed was a priority since they were burning extra energy to stay warm in the bitterly cold temperatures, Albright said.

Several rural electric cooperatives in western and ...