retroelectro
their electrical power grid. They would hold town hall meetings to answer community questions, conduct classes on safety, and teach how to install power poles, but that was about it. Their real influence lay in the government- backed loans they provided to farmers, enabling them to start their own electric cooperatives. Electric cooperatives are community-driven, nonprofit utility companies. They are called cooperatives because everyone in the town had to work together to achieve the mission. Farmers would spend two or three days a week digging holes for poles and working on their farms the rest of the week. Initially, they began their efforts to bring electricity to rural areas that investor-owned utilities (IOUs) wouldn’t serve. Often, they
did not generate their own power but bought power from the existing IOUs at bulk rates while maintaining their own infrastructure. Initially, the profits they earned were used to repay the loan from the REA, but afterward, they often used any profits they made to fund community development. Not only did they run electric poles and manage electric service, but they also paved roads, built schools, and constructed dams. Most rural areas didn’t have schools for children beyond age 12, and then school was only a month or two each year. The co-op made it possible for rural areas to receive an education similar to that of city folk, increasing literacy rates nationwide. In many ways, the modernization of rural America was directly due to the local electric co-op. "It wasn’t just about light. It was about life," recalls one cooperative organizer, "When that first light bulb flickered on in the barn, we knew everything was about to change."
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal introduced
the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), a
cornerstone of a broader vision that included projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Civilian Conservation Corps. These projects aimed to modernize infrastructure and uplift rural communities. With federal loans and support, communities could form cooperatives to build power lines and bring electricity to their homes and farms. The electric cooperative Each city would have its own ‘R.E.A. Man' who would visit different farm communities to explain how they could establish
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