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Powerful LivingPowerful Living


75 years of Empowerment Oklahoma co-ops celebrate milestone


Editor’s Note: This is the 4th part of an annual series celebrating Oklahoma co-ops that have reached the 75th anniversary of empowering their communities. Northwestern Electric Cooperative In the late 1930s and early 1940s, a group of Choctaw County


residents gathered in Hugo, Okla., to discuss the idea of having electric power on their farms and in their homes. The residents’ efforts followed the creation of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), which President Franklin D. Roosevelt autho- rized in 1935. Choctaw Electric Cooperative was incorporated in June 1940 to serve local citizens by providing electrical power to their homes, farms and communities. On November 10, 1941, Choctaw Electric Cooperative members were the fi rst to experience electric power with the corporation. Today, CEC serves 18,170 me- ters over 3,534 miles of line in portions of Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, LeFlore, McCurtain and Pushmataha counties.


“Before local residents came togetgher to form Choctaw Electric Cooperative in 1941, there were no utilitites or established companies eager to serve our rugged area. A handful of determined families working as one entity, owned and controlled by its members, became the salvation of many. This year, Choctaw Electrc members celebrate 75 years of progress, action and change in southeast Oklahoma. “


- Extracted from the Choctaw Electric Cooperative 2014 Annual Report 75 Choctaw Electric Cooperative “We had a gasoline-powered washer and it made a lot of noise.


I was so excited when we got electricity and I was able to get an electric washing machine. But getting lights was the best thing to happen. I do not like the darkness and it was wonderful for me to have lights in every room. I am thankful every day for having electricity.” - Betty Jo DeBock


Pioneers of the rural electrification program in northwest Oklahoma worked hard to build a consumer-owned electric utility to provide themselves with the electric power they desperately needed. Their efforts met strong opposition, not only from the investor-owned utility but also from skeptical landowners. The fruits of their efforts paid off on July 10, 1940, when Northwestern Electric Cooperative (NWEC) was established. The fi rst electric lines were built from Woodward east approximately 18 miles to the town of Quinlan. By December of 1941, the cooperative was serving a total of 82 members with 29 miles of energized lines. Today, NWEC serves over 6,300 members and maintains more the 4,900 miles of line in Woodward, Harper and Ellis counties, and parts of Beaver, Dewey, Major and Woods counties.


OCTOBER 2015 9


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