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Our
History
The organization of
Covington Electric Cooperative in 1944 rescued many south Alabama farm
families from the dark despair of life without electricity. The Rural Electrification Administration, enacted
into law by Congress in 1936, offered long-term, low-interest loans to
commercial power companies, cooperatives or other groups for financing
construction of power facilities into rural areas. Commercial power
companies chose not to take advantage of this means of financing rural
power lines. Therefore, farmers were left to do the job themselves. They
banded together, working cooperatively.
In 1941, no more than 14 percent of the farm families
in Covington Electric Cooperative’s present coverage area had electric
service. Cooperatives faced problems obtaining wholesale electric power
for distribution to members. To combat this problem, 14 Rural Electric
Administration (REA) co-ops in Alabama and Northwest Florida formed a
“cooperative of cooperatives” (Alabama Electric Cooperative) to
generate and transmit wholesale electric power to its members. Alabama
Electric Cooperative changed its name to PowerSouth Energy Cooperative
in 2008 to better reflect its geographical service territory and
to position the company for future growth opportunities.
Now, Covington Electric Cooperative’s more than 2,700
miles of line transmits electrical service to more than 22,400 meters in
parts of six counties: Covington, Coffee, Crenshaw, Dale, Geneva and
Escambia. Covington Electric Cooperative’s headquarters is located in
Sanford, AL (near Andalusia). It has branch offices in Brantley,
Enterprise and Samson. To learn more about the history of rural
electrification, visit the United States Department of
Agriculture.
http://www.usda.gov/rus/electric.
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