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Cooperative History

 

 

The Electric Cooperative Story

 

 

A "cooperative" is a form of business that is often overlooked and misunderstood, even by the people affected by cooperatives every day. This type of business is one that is owned and run jointly by its members, who share the profits and benefits of membership as they pool their resources together to meet their common goals. Many organizations you may be familiar with are cooperatives, including Land O'Lakes, C-SPAN, Sunkist, and the Associated Press. Electric cooperatives like Sussex Rural Electric embody these cooperative values of community, member control, and yes, cooperation, providing the essential service of supplying electricity to the communities they belongs to.

The first electric cooperatives were created in 1937 under FDR’s “New Deal” and was intended to be an economic stimulus to the depressed economy of the 1930's. Prior to the New Deal, rural America did not have the benefit of central station electric service. The only way rural residents could get electricity was to pay the investor owned utilities to build the electric system to their home or farm. Most families could not afford to pay for the construction of the electrical system, so rural America did not have central electric service. However, under the New Deal, the Federal Government encouraged rural communities, through a series of loans, to form electric cooperatives for the purpose of creating an affordable electric system to serve their needs. Under the cooperative concept the only requirement necessary to receive electrical service was that you become a member by purchasing a membership certificate for $5.00.

The cooperative concept successfully achieved its main goal of stimulating the economy by bringing electricity to all rural communities. The benefits of electricity led to the sale of appliances and modern farm equipment which paved the way to more productivity and a much better quality of life for everyone living in these rural communities.

Today, there are over 900 electric cooperatives spread across 47 states. These cooperatives power the homes and businesses of 42 million Americans, covering 56% of the nation's landmass. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association provides a link between all these co-ops, allowing them to share resources and strategies for implementing the best service possible.

Historical Photos

Below is a collection of historical photos showing the adoption of rural electrification and the rise of electric cooperatives in Sussex County and across the entire nation

 

A map of Sussex County, circa 1930

Farm life pre-electrification was slow, with daily chores being significantly more time-consuming and strenuous

A group of farm workers, chatting as they fill their buckets at the water pump

A rural woman pumping water from a water pump, before electrification

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued an executive order forming the REA (Rural Electrification Association) in 1935

An REA educational poster teaching farmers the utility of one kilowatt hour; poster reads: "What one kilowatt hour means to the farm - grinds 100 lbs. of gran, cools 10 gallons of milk for one day, milks one cow for 20 days, grinds 48 axe heads or 8 mower blade, lights 100-bird poultry house for six days, hoists two tons of hay, cuts 1/2 cord of wood, cuts one ton of ensilage"

An REA educational poster teaching residents the potential of one kilowatt hour and what it meant for the home; poster reads: "What one kilowatt hour means to the farm home - lighting for a whole evening's readings, correct time for three weeks, pumps all the water wanted for two days, two hours of easy ironing, two thorough house cleanings, runs a sewing machine two months with average use, preserves the average family's food for 15 hours, one large weekly wash"

An REA informational poster showing the labor-saving potential of electricity in the home

A painting of the courthouse in Newton, NJ; description reads: "Power companies wanted $10,000 each from Sussex's farmers to power their farms, so in 1936 over 150 of them met at the Newton courthouse to learn about the REA"

An early REA informational advertisement explaining the member-owned nature of electric cooperatives; advertisement reads: "New Member - New Owner, REA co-ops are member-owned and controlled"

An issue of a monthly magazine, "Electricity on the Farm," from the 1930s focused on rural electrification

Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative Certification was officially certified by the State of New Hersey on April 7th, 1937

With funding from REA loans, co-ops and their workers had to set up their electrical grid from scratch

While being a lineman is still a demanding job, the original linemen did not have the benefit of technology to help while stringing power lines

An early lineman at work, climbing a utility pole

A photo known as "The Four Horsemen of the Lines," showing four linemen in Kansas stringing the last few miles of power lines before energization

After rural electrification, providing lighting beyond daylight hours was easier than ever

Rural communities had to take matters into their own hands to bring electricity into their areas and improve their quality of life; image shows group of men in suits sitting on platform, with a man standing in front of them at a microphone and a sign behind them, reading "Working together did it, all the power you want at lowest cost! At last, a dream come true."

A young boy grabbing milk from a new refrigerator, just one thing that came from electrification and changed the way of life in rural areas

A woman cooking on an electric stove, 1931. The ability to cook on a stove saved people precious time and money.

Image from newspaper showing Sussex County local Roland Post as a child, enjoying the benefits of newly-possible running water

A woman smiling while ironing clothes, a chore made easier with the convenience of electricity

A pair of linemen in the 1940s working on a substation transformer

Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative's original building eventually featured the image of Willie Wiredhand, who was adopted as the NRECA's official mascot in 1951

Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative's former office was located on Route 284 in Sussex. SREC moves to its current location in 1995.

The logos on Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative's old trucks features electric co-op mascot, Willie Wiredhand

This video, "Power and the Land," is a part of a documentary commissioned by the Rural Electrification Administration in 1940, narrated by Walter Cronkite. It focuses on the lives of a farming family in rural Ohio. It displays the struggles and toil of everyday farm life pre-electrification and how this was all changed by the REA.

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©2021 SussexREC. New Jersey's Best & Only

  • Your Cooperative
    • SREC NOW - Important Updates
    • About the Cooperative
      • About Us
      • Cooperative History
      • Board of Directors
      • Bylaws
      • Touchstone Energy Cooperatives
      • Bylaws
    • Guide to Co-op Membership
    • News & Events
      • Currents Newsletter
      • Cooperative News
      • Annual Meeting
    • Video Library
    • Employment Opportunities
    • FAQs
  • Your Bill
    • Pay Your Bill
    • About Your Bill
    • Capital Credits
    • Unclaimed Capital Credits
    • Billing Help - COVID-19
    • Moving Out
    • Money Saving Tips
  • Your Service
    • Service Territory
    • Membership Application
    • Service Requirements
    • Outages
    • Outage Map
    • Restoring an Outage
    • Storm Center
    • Scams
  • Your Home
    • Tree Management
    • Security & Area Lights
    • Renewable Energy
    • Electric Vehicles
    • Home Energy Adventure
    • Electrical Safety
      • Home Safety Tips
      • Generator Safety
      • Power Line Safety
      • Safety Quiz
      • safeelectricity.org
  • Our Programs
    • Medical Alert Program
    • Beat the Peak
    • Appliance Rebates
    • SREC Resources
    • Cummins Home Generators
    • ETS Heat
    • GenerLink
  • Our Community
    • Community Involvement
    • Collections for Community
    • Co-ops Vote
    • Building the Next Generation of Leaders
      • Schools
      • Youth Tour
      • Scholarships
    • SREC Kids - Pluggy's Power Patrol
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Us
    • Sign Up for Email Alerts
    • Member Survey
    • Member Advisory Committee