Company General Information
& History
Read an article from Alabama Living on TEC's history
For people in this area REA would probably be the first thing that
comes to mind when the word Co-op is mentioned. A Co-op is the idea
of joining together to achieve a common economic goal.
Electric co-ops are locally owned and controlled by the people they
serve, 25 million in 46 states. In Alabama, there are 21 electric
co-ops which serve 369,321 customers.
Examples of cooperative businesses include credit unions, farm marketing
and farm supply operations, housing co-ops, florists, and telephone
and news services. Approximately 120 million people in the nation
are member-owners of these businesses.
Rural electrification programs, over the years, have earned recognition
as one of the nation's great success stories. What is particularly
unique about co-ops is their "Can Do" spirit. They are truly
an example of democracy in action since every member-owner has a vote
and a voice concerning co-operative matter. There are 1,000 electric
cooperatives in the United States. When electric co-ops first got
started, about 60 years ago, it was said that they would never succeed;
but, obviously, the will of people to join together to bring electricity
to remote and rural areas was greatly underestimated and proved them
wrong.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created, by executive order,
the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). The following year,
by act of Congress, the agency took on permanent life. The goal of
the REA was to provide electric power to rural America, but its method
was to be indirect.
Functioning as a loan agency, the REA provided financing for the effort.
The actual implementation was to be done by local people through cooperatives,
which they organized for the purpose.
In 1935, only 11 percent of the rural homes in America had central
station service. Almost one thousand rural electric cooperatives,
which owe their existence to the REA, have electrified nearly the
entire rural area of the United States. This accomplishment, more
than any other one factor, closed the cultural gap, which existed
between rural and urban life.
Tombigbee Electrical Cooperative arose from a need for electrical
power by local citizens living in the rural areas of Marion, Lamar,
and portions of Fayette counties who could not get electrical service.
On May 12, 1941 Tombigbee Electric was incorporated in Vernon, Alabama.
Nine men from Marion County and Lamar County were the incorporators.
These men were John A. Mixon, Robert L. Pennington, Hezzie T. Matthews,
Jessie H. Cole, Alonzo A. Prater, George P. Loden, Arthur Voce,
Romie Webb, and James L. Smith.
The first board meeting of the Cooperative involving these men was
held May 20, 1941 at which time Robert L. Pennington was named President,
Romie Webb was named Vice President and Hezzie T. Matthews, Secretary
and Treasurer.
The original board members worked long and hard to secure the necessary
number of applications for the Cooperative to be formed. Numerous
trips were made to Montgomery at their own expense.
The rural people of Marion and Lamar Counties had tried and tried
to get electricity. On three occasions applications were made to
Alabama Power Company for electric service with no response. It
was the feeling that the people of rural Marion and Lamar County
were too poor to afford electric bills. They were farmers, went
to bed early and could not possibly use enough electricity to be
profitable. This group of men, however, were determined to make
life better for those in the rural areas and joined forces by going
house to house getting memberships. With enough members signed up
for service these men went to Montgomery and organized Tombigbee
Electrical Cooperative on May 12, 1941. Then on July 15, 1941 dreams
of electricity were even closer when REA announced the approval
of a loan of $400,000.00.
Construction was started but was brought to a halt when World War
II erupted just a few months later on December 7, 1941. After the
war started it was almost impossible to buy materials so everything
had to be closed down. However, when the war was over the construction
was started anew, and on February 12, 1946 the first lines were
energized which consisted of 12 miles and 22 consumers on the road
from Guin to Sulligent.
Since that day there have been hard work and dedication by all people
involved to make this the Cooperative that it is today. We started
out with 22 consumers and 12 miles of line and on August 31, 1984
we had 9,101 meters and 1,876 miles of line. December 31, 1946 the
average consumption was 23 KWH per consumer. In 1946 we only sold
113,562 KWH while in 1993 alone we sold over 95,035,000 kilowatt
hours. In 1946 the plant was valued at $475,000.00. Today the plant
is valued at over $14,000,000.00
We are so thankful that in 1941 the original nine directors and
other interested citizens worked so hard to bring electricity to
the rural area of our counties. We are also thankful for REA and
all of the directors, employees and managers who have worked so
hard these past years to make the Co-op a success.
The last of the original board members, Robert L. Pennington, who
was later an employee of Tombigbee Electric for 31 years, died in
February of 1991. The goal of these first nine directors is still
the goal of the current nine directors we have in place today in
that we strive to give you the best service at the lowest cost possible.
Today, the rural electric cooperatives are a significant part of
the electric utility business. They operate more miles of electric
lines than the combined totals of all other electric utilities in
the country. |
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