What Is An Electric Cooperative?
An electric cooperative is a member-owned and controlled business which provides electricity and associated services at the lowest possible cost to it's consumer-members. Electric cooperatives were established by rural pioneers all across the country in the 1930's & 1940's. Cooperatives like Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative, Inc. brought electricity to rural areas that the investor-owned utilities wouldn't or couldn't serve, turning on lights for thousands of farmers and rural dwellers.
Rural electrification was made possible by the Rural Electrification Administration, created by Executive Order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on May 11, 1935, and later by enactment of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 on May 20, 1936. REA made low interest loans available to bring the lines into the rural areas.
Fifty years later, electric cooperatives like Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative are the primary provider of electricity in the rural areas of New Mexico. The cooperative no longer serves just farmers and ranchers in the rural area – today the cooperative serves small businesses and industries, farms, residences, cabins and recreational homes. Because electricity was there, rural areas have developed and thrived.