Sullivan County Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) was organized in 1936 to provide
central station electric service to the rural areas in and around Sullivan
County.
Today, the Cooperative serves over 5,300 members in Sullivan, southern Bradford
and Lycoming County.
Approximately 49% of the services are residential, 46% seasonal and 5% are commercial
or industrial. The Cooperative maintains over 850 miles of line with
19 employees based in Forksville.
What is A Cooperative?
The Cooperative form of business is unique and has existed for nearly 150
years. Cooperatives are a part of our everyday life with
services from
diverse groups such as the Associated
Press, Agway,
Diamond Walnuts and others. There are over 1,000 electric cooperatives
in the United States.
Cooperatives differ from private companies in that there is no stock and
no stockholders. The users of the electric systems are the owners of the
service. By being a consumer of Sullivan County REC, you
are an owner and entitled to attend the Annual Meeting, vote for directors
and vote on any issues before the membership.
Prior to the formation of electric cooperatives
very few rural areas had central station electric service. The formation
of non-profit cooperatives along with low interest Federal loans made it
feasible to extend electric power to rural areas.
Six Members
Per Mile
Cooperatives were formed after private power companies failed to utilize
the low interest Federal loan program to extend electric service into rural
areas.
Today Sullivan County REC still serves only 6 members per mile of line,
compared to the typical power company having 32 or more consumers per mile.
Sullivan County REC no longer receives low interest loans from the Federal
government.
Electric cooperatives follow the "Rochdale Principles" which were developed
by the first cooperative in Rochdale, England in 1884. The basic
principles are:
Open Membership - Any person in the
service area must be permitted to join -
regardless
of race, religion, sex, etc.
Democratic Control - Each member
has only one vote, regardless of the number of service connections. or
amount or usage.
Limited Return on Investment - Issues
no stock and pays no interest on capital provided by members.
Return of margins to members -
Margins must be allocated to members.
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