Our history, our future

One of my favorite quotes has always been, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Yet sometimes remembering our history with the goal of repeating it can actually be a good thing. As the nation’s 30,000 cooperatives celebrate National Co-op Month this October, it is a great time to take a look back – and a look forward.

 

Take the history of your electric co-op. Petit Jean Electric Co-op was founded in 1940 when neighbors worked together to bring electricity to our rural community. Big investor-owned power companies thought they couldn’t generate enough profit so they bypassed rural areas. Back then, there were frequent meetings among neighbors to discuss the formation of the cooperative. Once established, annual meetings were the “must attend” event of the year. The co-op – on behalf of the member-owners – committed to provide the community with electricity.

 

Fast forward to today – and tomorrow. Petit Jean Electric Co-op currently serves about 19,876 members and operates a distribution systems with about 3,576 miles of line.

We understand the spirit that helped create this co-op must be continually nurtured. While times and technology will continue to change, our commitment to you will not.

As we continue to look toward the future, you can be confident that your electric co-op will commit to providing you with affordable, reliable and safe electricity while supporting our members and our communities in many other ways including energy efficiency promotion, support of the annual Youth Tour to Washington for high school juniors and more.

 

We are also proud to support the Farm Family of the Year program. The Matt McMahan family, winners of the 2017 Farm Family of the Year for Van Buren County, is featured here this month (see page 23), and in November, we feature the Horton family of Marshall, winners of the of Searcy County Farm Family of the Year award for 2017.