This month marks the 90th anniversary of electric cooperatives in America.
On May 11, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order to create the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). The order was part of the Emergency Relief Appropriation act passed by Congress to alleviate suffering and hunger during the depression, according to the book, “Rural Electrification in Mississippi 1934-1970” by Winnie Ellis Phillips.
The executive order led to a law by Congress — The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 — which empowered rural communities to bring electricity to their communities via loans from the REA.
The issue of a lack of electric power in rural areas was especially significant in Mississippi, where “only nine-tenths of 1% of Mississippi’s farms were electrified.”
Mississippi led the nation in securing electric power for rural residents.
Alcorn County Electric Power Association in Corinth was America’s first rural electric cooperative.
Monroe County Electric Power association in Amory was the nation’s first REA cooperative to energize its system in 1936.
Today, Mississippi has 25 distribution electric cooperatives and one generation and transmission electric cooperative.
The state’s electric co-ops provide electric service to more than 1.8 million Mississippians.
