with IOU and Co-Op systems. Back when I was a youngster, I had no idea what a co-op was and no idea it existed. I always thought utilities everywhere were IOUs, it wasn't until a few years later when I started to explore around the rural areas of Wisconsin. When the family got some property in rural WI I was excited to come along and see the utility system that was there.
I noticed that the all the poles looked almost the same, the spacing between the primary and neutral were spaced evenly on each pole. Unlike what I was used to seeing, the neutral being stretched under a transformer or riser. spacing between primary and neutral on the Xcel poles I grew up with always varied, while the co-ops always kept everything looking the same. My attention was also caught by the co-op's clamped insulator pins on arms, backwards ridge pins, guy wires being connected to the main neutral, no poles standing out, etc.
It took my a while to figure out that the property wasn't served by Xcel. Dunn Energy turned out to be the power company in the area.