A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 2, 1999
Pennsylvania Rural Electric
Association Serves 600,000
The Pennsylvania Rural
Electric Association (PREA),
based in Harrisburg, Pa., is the
service organization for the non
profit consumer-owned rural
electric cooperatives in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Currently, the 13 co-ops in
Pennsylvania and one in New
Jersey provide electric service to
more than 600,000 rural resi
dents, businesses and indus
tries. Pennsylvania’s co-ops own
and maintain about 12.5 percent
of the electric distribution lines
in the state, covering nearly one
third of the Commonwealth’s
land area in 41 counties. These
lines represent one of the largest
non-governmental investments
in rural infrastructure in the
state and are an essential com
ponent of business and industry.
PREA’s 14-member board of
directors one director elected
from each of its member cooper
atives conducts the associa
tion’s business to best serve the
consumers members of the co
ops.
PREA works jointly with the
Allegheny Electric Cooperative
Inc., a generation and transmis
sion cooperative that provides
wholesale power to the 14 co
ops.
HISTORY
As late as the 19305, only six
out of every 100 rural
Pennsylvanians knew the mira
cle of electric light bulb in their
homes, The reason - establish
ing power companies in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey
had decided that running elec
tric lines into rural areas would
not make them a profit.
As a rule, power companies
charged farmers $2,000 to
$3,000 per mile to build lines to
their homes and then charged
electric rates higher than those
in the cities. Since the average
gross income of a farm family of
the period was just $l,BOO per
year, most couldn’t afford elec
tric service.
In many areas, power was not
available at any cost, for a time
it seemed profit needs greed
of stockholder-controlled pri
vate power companies would
condemn most of Pennsylvania’s
and New Jersey’s rural popula
tion to live forever with
kerosene lamps and hand
pumps.
But rural leader and a hand
ful of politicians were not ready
to accept the status quo. They
began working to demonstrate
that electric power could be pro
vided to rural areas at a reason
able cost and began developing a
business structure to make that
delivery possible.
In 1931, New York Governor
Franklin D. Roosevelt estab
lished the Power Authority of
the State of New York (PASNY)
to develop water power on the
St. Lawrence River, PASNY pro
duced the first study on the
actual costs of electric distribu
tion and helped demonstrate the
practicality of providing electric
ity to rural areas.
In 1935, armed with studies
showing both the economic fea
sibility and the benefits of pro
viding electricity to rural areas,
then-President Roosevelt signed
an executive order forming the
Rural Electrification
Residents
Administration (REA).
The REA program was ini
tially intended as an induce
ment to the private power com
panies to begin serving rural
areas. But even with the incen
tives provided by 2 percent REA
loans, the private power suppli
ers showed little interest in
building the necessary lines. By
the end of 1935, it was clear that
the private power companies
weren’t serious about acting on
the government’s offer to electri
fy the countryside. Most of the
loan applications and inquiries
REA received came from farm
co-ops. REA now realized that
farmers and their rural neigh
bors were willing to take electri
fication into their own hands on
a cooperative basis.
Farmers had long experience
with cooperatives. In fact, the co
op was the business structural
rural people adopted when con
fronted with a task too large for
any family to handle itself.
It was natural then that rural
leaders chose to form another
kind of co-op to provide them
selves and their neighbors with
electricity. Since extending cen
tral station electric service
required very specialized engi
neering skills, many in Congress
were convinced rural electrifica
tion would never be accom
plished without REA receiving
regular appropriations and full
status. So in 1936, one year and
20 days after REA had been cre
ated, Congress passed legisla
tion making REA a permanent
government agency. In 1939,
REA became part of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
On October 20, 1994, a
sweeping reorganization of the
Ag Department took place. As a
result, after 59 years of exis
tence, REA was officially dis
banded. Most REA functions
were transferred to a new Rural v
Utilities Service (RUS).
But the mission of rural elec
trification continues. Today,
about 1,000 electric cooperatives
across the United States provide
power to more than 25 million
consumer members. Each co-op
is a locally owned, taxpaying
business incorporated under the
laws of its individual state.
Rural electric cooperatives
have been delivering low-cost
electric service to Pennsylvania
and New Jersey rural residents
since 1936, when the Steamburg
Electric Cooperative Association
(later consolidated into
Northwestern Rural Electric
Cooperative) was established in
Erie and Crawford counties.
The 14 rural electric coopera
tives that today comprise PREA
were organized between 1936
and 1941. By the time the
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
on December 7,1941, all of them
had gone through the pangs of
becoming organized, of getting
their first loans, of making
arrangements for power supply
at least on a short-term basis
and had begun construction of
lines to reach their unserved
neighbors.
With the outbreak of WWII,
the co-ops realized they need a
statewide organization to speak
for them as one voice on legisla
tive issues. The co-ops created
PREA in February 1942.
BEDFORD
REC, INC.
Bedford, PA
814-623-5101
Serving Bedford, Fulton and
Somerset Counties
SOUTHWEST CENTRAL TDI.CQUNTY CLAVERACK
RURAL ELECTRIC RURAL ELECTRIC
cooperative ELECTRIC
CORPORATION COOPERATIVE COOPERATIVE
AQfXfX Mansfield, PA Wysox, PA
724-349-4800 n tstto o 4 7e 800-326-9799
Supplying electric service to 07U-00A-41 f D „ JT *
members in Indiana, Cambria, Service to Tioaa Potter , Br & dford >
Armstrong. Blair. Clearfield. Se ™™° J’ ina ’ Lackawana, Luzerne,
Jefferson & Westmoreland Bradford, Lycoming, Lycoming, Sullivan,
counties for 61 years. Cameron, Clinton and Susquehanna, Tioga, and
a Touchstone Energy* Partner McKean Counties Wyoming Counties
NORTHWESTERN NEW VALLEY RUBAL
ENTERPRISE ELECTRIC COOP
REC ASSOC*) INC. RURAL Huntingdon, PA
Cambridge Spring, PA IMA
814-643-2650
814-398-5307 800-432-0680
814-766-3221 m ££»&
Mercer Counties Providing Rural Electric W Huntingdon, Juniata,
Needs for Bedford, Fulton and Mifflin Counties
and Huntingdon Counties A Touchstone Energy" Partner
Delivering reliable electric power to 26,000 homes, Adams Electric
farms and tasinesses in south-central Pennsylvania. Cooperative, Inc.
1-000-23 Z-0/ jZ wwwadamscc.com
y
SOMERSET
RURAL
ELECTRIC, INC.
Somerset, PA
814-445-4106
Serving Somerset, Bedford,
Westmoreland, Fayette and
Garrett, Md. Counties
A Touchstone Energy' 1 Parmer
t
UNITED ELECTRIC
COOPERATIVE, INC.
Du Bois, PA
814-371-8570
888-581-8969
Serving Armstrong, Cambria,
Centre, Clarion, Clearfield,
Clinton, Elk, Forest, Indiana,
and Jefferson Counties