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What Is An Electric Cooperative? |
An electric
cooperative is a
member-owned and
controlled utility
which provides
electricity and
associated services
at cost to it's
consumer-members.
Electric
cooperatives were
established by rural
pioneers all across
the country in the
later 1930's & early
1940's. Cooperatives
like Shelby Electric
Cooperative brought
electricity to rural
areas that the
investor-owned
utilities wouldn't
or couldn't serve,
turning on the
lights for thousands
of farmers and rural
dwellers.
Rural electrification was
made possible by the Rural
Electrification
Administration, created by
Executive Order of President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt on
May 11, 1935, and later by
enactment of the Rural
Electrification Act of 1936
on May 20, 1936. REA made
low interest loans available
to bring the lines into the
rural areas. The REA program
took off and soon became so
popular and successful that
electric cooperatives became
known as "e;REA's". Today
Shelby Electric Cooperative
no longer uses money from
the Rural Electrification
Administration, now called
the Rural Utilities Service
(RUS). Our structure is
still the same and the basic
standards are still
followed.
Fifty years later, electric
cooperatives like Shelby
Electric Cooperative are the
primary provider of
electricity in the rural
areas of down state
Illinois. The cooperative no
longer serves just farmers
in the diverse rural area -
today the cooperative serves
small businesses and
industries, farms,
residences, cabins and
recreational homes. Because
electricity was there, rural
areas have developed.
Today, as 50 years ago,
cooperatives are governed by
a unique form of democracy.
Consumer-members, who own
the cooperative, control it
through the election of
directors who represent
their interests on the
cooperative's board of
directors.
Local control through a
locally-elected board of
directors ensures all
members an equal voice in
the operation of their
electric supply system. The
one member - one vote
concept is not only a right
of all cooperative
members...it's a
responsibility. |
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