“Service First” is prime objectiveĬWEMC is presently engaged in a work plan, which involves upgrades and improvements to provide better service all over the system. Today, CWEMC serves approximately 19,937 meters on some 4,130 miles of line in Clarke and Washington counties and portions of Wilcox and Monroe counties. By 1950, the cooperative was serving 4,956 customers with 1,683 miles of lines.Īs it celebrates 80 years of service, CWEMC continues to be one of the fastest growing rural electric cooperatives in Alabama. After the war ended, an accelerated construction program was accomplished. Through the years of the war, the cooperative struggled to get material to build the lines, which people in the rural areas were clamoring for. World War II arrived and brought a shortage of materials.
A building was rented and the records were moved in a shoebox. At a special meeting, June 1, 1938, the board of trustees voted to move the office from Coffeeville to Jackson, because Jackson was a more central location. The cooperative had no headquarters facility, and it was first operated out of the Coffeeville home of C.R. Initially, the cooperative served just 83 members with 79.2 miles of line, but it began to grow rapidly, and by January of 1938, there were 165 member-customers receiving power from the cooperative. The first pole was set just south of Salipta, near Beckham’s Landing in July of 1937, and soon the first lines were energized. The $65,000 loan enabled the fledgling cooperative to start installing lines and other facilities necessary to begin serving its members. 5, 1936, CWEMC received the first Rural Electric Administration loan in the state of Alabama for building rural electric lines. It was a tough job and many people were suspicious of the whole idea and didn’t want to risk $5 in such a venture, but gradually they began to visualize what it would mean to them and interest started picking up. These leaders traveled the muddy and dusty roads of Clarke and Washington counties talking to people about the cooperative and asking them to pay a $5 membership fee and sign up for electricity. During the next few months, these men and other community leaders reunited to help with the project.
Their first challenge was to get people to sign up for membership in the cooperative. Myrick, of Coffeeville, Secretary-TreasurerĪs initial organizational work proceeded to complete the formation of the cooperative, these men making up the first board of trustees met in Coffeeville, and adopted the first bylaws of the corporation. It was organized Main Coffeeville, with the following serving as incorporators: The first of these rural electric cooperatives to be organized in Alabama was Clarke-Washington Electric Membership Corporation. First electric cooperative in AlabamaĪnd so, rural people formed their own cooperatives and borrowed money from the REA to construct and operate their own power systems. In many cases, they said they could not make a profit for their stockholders by supplying electricity in rural areas where they would have fewer customers per mile of line than in the cities and towns.
#WASHINGTON EMC INSTALL#
REA, as the new agency was known, would lend power companies low interest money to erect poles, install transformers, and extend the lines into rural areas. Roosevelt signed an executive order, which created the Rural Electrification Administration. Today’s modern household appliances were unknown to the average rural home and on the farm.Īcting to meet the need for rural electric service across the nation, the federal government took action. Light for reading was supplied by kerosene lamps. Less than 10 percent of the rural homes in Alabama had electricity at the time, and the percentage in Clarke and Washington Counties was even lower than the statewide average. And it was the climax of several years of hard work by farsighted community leaders in this area. The newly organized Clarke-Washington Electric Membership Corporation activated its first lines and turned on the electric lights in rural areas, which had long been denied the conveniences of electricity. In July of 1937, a new day dawned in better living conditions and a pathway toward progress for thousands of people living in the rural areas of Clarke and Washington counties and surrounding areas. The cooperative owns 19,937 meters on some 4,130 miles of line. The cooperative is a distribution cooperative serving members in Clarke and Washington counties, and portions of Wilcox and Monroe counties in southwest Alabama. The general manager and his staff carry out the day-to-day management of the cooperatives. Members of the board of directors help develop policies for the operations of the cooperative. The member-owners govern and set policy for CWEMC through a nine-member board of directors.
Clarke-Washington EMC is a cooperative form of business owned by its member-owners.
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