What is a Co-op

Cooperatives are not-for-profit, consumer-owned businesses. Electric utility cooperatives build and maintain three times the miles of power line of other utilities and do so at comparable rates despite fewer customers. They do this by operating on a not-for-profit, cost-of-service basis. The margins are given back to the members, in the form of capital credits, to reduce their electric costs.

Once a member pays the membership fee, they become a part owner of the cooperative. They have a voice in how the cooperative is operated and influence this process through casting their vote at the annual meeting. It is also at the annual meeting that the members elect Cullman EC’s nine-member board of trustees from the membership. Three board positions are voted on at each annual meeting.

Because the members of the cooperative are also the owners this means the cooperative is locally owned and operated. Employees of the cooperative are also local residents who are familiar with the needs of the communities they serve.

In the 1930s, Cullman County and most of North Alabama was still without electricity. The big city power companies were not willing to expand into rural areas because they didn’t believe it was worth the cost to build hundreds of miles of power lines in order to serve a few thousand people.

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration as part of his New Deal package that brought our country out of the Great Depression. The REA provided loans, engineering assistance and organizational support to rural residents willing to form cooperative electric utilities.

In May 1936, a group of local businessmen incorporated Cullman Electric Membership Cooperative. They went door to door offering residents electricity in their homes and part ownership of the co-op for a $5 membership fee (the $5 membership fee still applies today). On Aug. 4, 1936, the first 30 miles of power lines were energized, serving 350 members.

Today, Cullman EC serves more than 36,300 member accounts with more than 42,000 meters and more than 3,400 miles of power lines in Cullman, Winston, Morgan and Lawrence counties.

The Cullman County Cooperative Council was formed in 2007 to help raise awareness of cooperative businesses in our community, and allow area co-ops to support each other. Joining Cullman Electric Cooperative on the council are: