th Anniversary
Cooperative
14353 Cooperative Ave ~Corpus Christi, TX 78380
The Story of NEC John L. Sims, NEC CEO
viding this essential service to people in sparsely populated communities. It simply wasn’t profitable.
Next month, October 9th to be exact,
Nueces Electric Cooperative will be celebrating our 75th Annual Meeting of the membership. I look forward to this meeting every year. I look forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new members. I look forward to informing you of our success and seeing the democratic Board of Director election process in action. I appreciate seeing children running around enjoying the activities while they learn about electricity and youth opportunities. Cooperative life has not always been as easy as it is today. I would like to take a moment to remind you of our story and how Nueces Electric Cooperative came to be. Close your eyes and think what it would be like if the only electric utility in the area refused to serve you? Or, what if they would only serve you if you paid thousands of dollars up-front, and then, they’d charge you 25 cents for each kilowatt-hour you used? Step back to the 1930’s and you’d see people in the cities who had enjoyed the advantages of electricity for decades, while rural people were still making do without it or paying these exorbitant rates to get electricity. In those days, the big, for-profit power companies had little interest in pro21
Texas Co-op Power NEC September 2014
On May 11, 2035, rural America took a giant step forward when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act which gave Congress the authority to initiate a rural electrification program as a depression relief agency.
At the Annual meeting on October 9th, each member who attends will receive a special copy of the Nueces Electric Cooperative 75th Anniversary Book. This book is a glance back at our rich history and will enlighten you on some of the behind the scene hard work that goes into making our Co-op successful. Thus began the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) which administered the loans to groups of rural citizens working together to bring electricity to non-urban areas. These organized groups of citizens were called Electric Cooperatives. At that time only 2.3 percent of rural Texans had electricity. Nueces Electric Cooperative, Inc. was chartered December 7, 1938, by a group of farmers and ranchers who truly exemplified the pioneer spirit joined together to bring this rural area out of the dark ages. The originally signed 355 members selected W. F. L. Lehman, F. C. Wolf, August Wisian,
Roy Barlow, Fred G. Lowman, Emil Hinze, John H. Bolland, O. F. Brendle, and C. A. Eggleston as the first Board of Directors and to carry on the necessary work to begin the process of building an electric central station for the area. The 355 members all had electricity by January 1940. In 1946, the Co-op expanded service lines to include Jim Wells, Kleberg, and Live Oak counties. Our cooperative has always, and will always, be a democratic, memberowned utility. We are proud of those who came before us; and as we move into the future it is vital that we never forget where we came from. We were built out of determination to have a better life. When for-profit utilities refused to serve our homes, our communities banded together and fought for a resolution. Can you imagine pulling a string and seeing that light bulb come on for the first time? Today, Nueces Electric Cooperative is a thriving entity. The Co-op has worked hard to diversify through deregulation and navy base contracts. We are paving new roads and have overcome great obstacles. Through it all, the Co-op has persevered and we are continuing to change and adjust to the rapid technology advancements and the increased demand for electricity. We work everyday to carry on the legacy of our founders and we hope we make you proud to be a memberowner of your electric cooperative. www.nueceselectric.org