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2012 IYC: Nat’l Rural Electric Cooperatives
For many years, power companies ignored the rural areas of the nation. In fact, until the mid-1930’s nine out of every ten rural homes were without electricity. Martin Lowery, Executive Vice-President of External Affairs with the NRECA says in the early 1900’s then President Teddy Roosevelt suggested using the co-operative business model to bring electricity to rural America. It wasn’t until 1935 when his cousin, President Franklin Roosevelt, created the Rural Electification Administration. Their goal, Lowery tells Brownfield, was to figure out how to get electricity to rural communities and like the formation of many co-operatives, it came out of necessity. “You simply just didn’t have electricity in the vast majority in rural areas of the United States,” he says. Lowery adds investor owned companies were not willing to extend the service because they couldn’t make a profit.
When the administration couldn’t figure out how to make it work in rural areas, Lowery says their solution was to have farmers and ranchers and the rural communities around them take care of their own needs. “By creating a co-op and having access to low-interest loans from the federal government to get started,” he says they were able to provide Rural America with electricty. Lowery notes, “It began as a public/private partnership that today is seen as one of the most successful projects the US has ever under taken.”
Today, rural electric cooperatives provide power to 42 million people across 47 states and now own around 50 percent of the nation’s electric distribution system.
AUDIO: Martin Lowery, NRECA (8:54mp3)
You can always tell an expert! Thanks for contriubntig.