C & L Electric Cooperative edition
Sticking together It’s been 80 years since the first electric co-op pole was erected in Arkansas. In the November 1967 edition of Rural Arkansas, now Arkansas Living, Harry L. Oswald, then general manager of Arkansas’ electric co-op statewide organization, recalled that major historic event, which took place in the autumn of 1937 one mile north of Jacksonville on U.S. 67. Installed by First Electric Cooperative, it marked the beginning of the transformation of rural Arkansas. Oswald noted that a sign on the pole read: “The first electric cooperative pole in an electric distribution system of proposed lines throughout the rural areas to improve living conditions in rural Arkansas.” By 1967, he noted that 18 electric co-ops had been created in Arkansas, including C & L Electric Co-op, and 45,000 miles of line had been built to serve “160,000 residents, industries, agriculture and recreational facilities in 62 percent of the geographic area of Arkansas that has been assigned to them by the Public Service Commission during the past 30 years.” In addition to “the lights,” Oswald said the electric coops helped provide power for “refrigeration, food freezing, cooking, radio and TV, air conditioning — both cooling and heating — running water, irrigation, gins, crop drying, tourist facilities and boat docks, factories and many, many other uses that demanded abundant and dependable power sources for these electric cooperatives and at stable rates.” One of those dependable power sources was the John L. McClellan power plant at Camden. In his November 1967 column, Oswald proudly announced that ground had been broken for the 125,000-kilowatt generating station on Oct. 19, 1967. The plant, named for then Arkansas U.S. Sen. John L. McClellan, was the third generation station built and owned by Arkansas’ electric co-ops. It went online in 1971 and remains an important part of the electric co-ops’ generation portfolio today. At the time, Oswald noted that the McClellan plant would specifically meet the needs of members of Riceland Electric Co-op (now part of First Electric), C & L Electric
Co-op, AshleyChicot Electric Co-op, Ouachita Electric Co-op, South Central Arkansas Electric Co-op and Southwest Arkansas Electric Co-op. The other co-op plants, the Thomas B. Fitzhugh plant U.S. Sen. John L. McClellan, left, joins electric co-op at Ozark and the leaders for the groundbreaking ceremony at the Carl E. Bailey power plant named in his honor on Oct. 19, 1967, plant at Augusta, in Camden. served co-op members in the central and northern half of the state. A true visionary, Oswald saw that the work of the electric co-ops was far from finished. “... here demonstrates and proves the basic fact that if we stick together in the future, support our leaders as we have during the past 30 years, we will, in 1997, have available for the prosperity and better way of life for our sons and daughters, a dependable and abundant source of this essential energy," he wrote. The co-ops and their members met that challenge in 1997 and are still meeting it today. Arkansas’ electric co-ops have stuck together, and we are stronger than ever, serving more than a million members in Arkansas and surrounding states. This is a mammoth accomplishment that has transformed Arkansas’ economy. It has made the lives of Arkansans, especially in rural areas, easier and better. It is with sincere gratitude that we look forward to serving you for many more decades to come. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at C & L Electric Cooperative.
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Your electric cooperative pays property taxes too C&L paid over $800,000 in property taxes in 2017 Just as everyone who owns property pays property taxes in the month of October, C & L Electric is no exception. The Cooperative pays taxes on it’s various properties such as office buildings, overhead power lines, and substations. These tax payments are used to support such things as schools, roads, law enforcement and local governments. This year C & L paid a total of $ 829,701.44 to the eight Arkansas counties in which we have members. Here’s what your cooperative paid to each county: 22
NOVEMBER 2017
C & L ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
Bradley Cleveland Dallas Desha Drew Grant Jefferson Lincoln
$ 81,681.12 $ 108,334.17 $ 3,153.09 $ 114,007.96 $ 148,335.68 $ 65,828.20 $ 48,008.06 $ 260,353.16
Holiday Closing C & L is thankful to be able to serve you and your family! We will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 23 and Friday, Nov. 24, to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with our families. Our business office will reopen on Monday, Nov. 27 at 8:00 a.m. In case of an outage, please call us at 870-628-4221.
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Bill payment options to fit any lifestyle • Pay by mail. Please include your bill stub and write your C & L account number(s) on your check or money order. • Pay in person during regular business hours. Please bring your payment and entire bill to either our Star City, Sheridan or Dumas offices any weekday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. • Use our night deposit after regular business hours. Drop your payment in the night deposit at our Star City, Sheridan or Dumas office after hours. Please include your bill stub and write your account number on your check or money order. • Pay at a bank. C & L payments are accepted at the following banks: Fordyce – Fordyce Bank & Trust, White Hall and Watson Chapel branches, Monticello – Commercial & Union, Pine Bluff – all Simmons branches including Watson
Chapel & White Hall, Rison – Fordyce Bank & Trust, Warren – 1st State, Warren Bank & Trust, & Union. Payments made at a bank are then mailed to C & L’s main office and are not posted to your account until received by mail. • Pay by phone. Dial (870) 628-5522 or (870) 6285492 and follow the automated instructions. Payment must be made using a Visa, Mastercard or Discover brand credit or debit card. There is a $4.25 transaction fee per C & L account for this service. Payments by phone are posted to your C & L account immediately. • Pay online. You may go to www.clelectric.com using a Visa, Mastercard or Discover brand credit or debit card. You may pay all C & L accounts with the same member number for one $4.25 transaction fee. Online payments are posted immediately to your C & L account.
Don’t forget to set your clocks back Set your clocks back one hour before going to bed on Saturday, Nov. 4. Daylight savings time ends at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5. This is also a good time to put new batteries in your smoke alarms.
C & L ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE
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