The Dakota Electric Association delivers electricity to residents of southeastern Minnesota, the Gopher State, so they don't have to burrow underground for those long, cold winters. The member-owned electric utility serves 93,000 customers in portions of Dakota, Goodhue, Rice, and Scott counties south of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The coop gets its power wholesale from transmission cooperative Great River Energy and distributes it over 3,500 miles of power lines, nearly two-thirds of which are buried. Its subsidiaries offer such services as generator installation and leasing (Energy Services), HVAC contracting (Controlled Air Heating & Air Conditioning), and substation engineering (Consulting Engineers Group).