Mission & History
We are a member-owned cooperative leading the delivery of exceptional quality energy services and ancillary products that improve the quality of life for our members and the communities we serve.

Value Statement
We strive to create superior value for our member/customers through state-of-the-art technology and the exceptional contribution of our Trustees and Employees in an environmentally- and socially responsible manner. We also strive to foster a culture (an attitude) of safety within the organization by training our employees to recognize risk, safeguard themselves, protect others, and promote safe practices to achieve a measurable and effective behavior-based safety program.

History
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History of Electricity
Establishment of Local Cooperatives
Merger of Two Cooperatives
Today

History of Electricity
"The greatest thing on earth is to have the love of God in your heart, and the next greatest thing is to have electricity in your house."

These are the words of a Tennessee farmer in the early 1940s who had just received electricity for the first time in his life. Before 1935, less than one American farm in five had electricity. Previously, staying warm in winter meant chopping wood and hauling coal. Early morning and evening chores were done by the dim light of kerosene lamps. Cooking, cleaning and bathing meant endless trips to the spring house, incessant pumping and miles of trudging, in every type of weather.

So many conveniences taken for granted in American cities, which had been electrified since the turn of the century, were unknown to rural families. Power companies believed farm families couldn't afford electricity and really had no need for it. They believed there was no profit in building power lines to farmers.

In the midst of the Great Depression, when many farm families had already been driven from their land by drought, poor harvests and low farm prices, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pledged "a New Deal" to the American people. One of his New Deal initiatives for economic recovery was rural electrification.

In May 1935, President Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), recognizing the need for government involvement in electrifying rural America . Despite making REA loan funds available to large private utilities it soon became apparent that existing power companies still would not build power lines out into the country. It was the rural people themselves who brought electricity to the countryside with the establishment of farmer-owned cooperatives.

Establishment of Local Cooperatives
By 1936, groups of farmers all over the country were forming cooperatives and applying for REA loans, including two groups of farmers in Delaware and Morrow counties of north central Ohio . Delaware Rural Electric Cooperative incorporated on April 2, 1936 , while Morrow Electric Cooperative incorporated on June 10, 1936 , borrowing $250,000 from the REA in Washington , DC , to build "Project A", the first 250 miles of power line.

But the work had just begun. "To get the REA" volunteers and the first Co-op employees drove up and down country roads, signing up struggling farm families who were hard-pressed to come up with the $10 membership fee, a lot of money back then. REA required an average of two customers per mile of line before the Cooperative could "energize." But rural people were eager to get "the lights" and before long the first poles and power lines began to dot the rural landscape.

In Morrow County , the first 600 customers came on line in May 1938, and in Delaware county farmers were fast becoming aware of the benefits of electricity. Farm families took a holiday from the day-to-day work on the farm when the "REA Circus", a traveling show of electric farm equipment and household appliances, came to town. Within a few years, Morrow and Delaware Co-op power lines continued to stretch further out into the rural areas and local farm families acquired all of the convenient and time saving electric devices of the day.

By the early 1940s, eight of the original electric Co-ops in Ohio , including Morrow Electric, joined together to create a statewide organization, the Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives (OREC). They quickly joined the national organization, the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (NRECA), because they realized the benefits of cooperation and the strength of working in larger numbers. Eventually, there were 28 electric Cooperatives in Ohio and almost 1,000 Co-ops around the country.

When World War II broke out, new construction of rural lines came to a halt as materials were diverted for the war effort. But the whole country benefited from the productivity of America 's newly electrified farms.

In the post-war years, Morrow Electric and Delaware Rural Electric began to thrive and grow again as prosperity spread across America . In the early 1960s, they played an active role in the creation of Buckeye Power, Inc., a generation and transmission cooperative that would eventually build the Ohio Cooperatives' very own source of power, the Cardinal Generating Station on the Ohio River near Steubenville .

Over the years, the memberships of the Morrow and Delaware Co-ops became less and less farm-oriented as more and more city people moved to the rural areas in search of a "country" lifestyle. With the city of Columbus continuing to grow northward, the two Cooperatives boasted of being the fastest growing Co-ops in Ohio , and even the nation, by the late 1980s.

Merger of Two Cooperatives
In early 1995 Delaware Rural Electric Cooperative approached Morrow Electric to discuss consolidation - it seemed like a natural fit. The two Cooperatives were similar in many ways, with adjoining service territory. After months of discussion and planning, a merger proposal was presented to the members of both Cooperatives. Both groups of members approved the merger proposal on June 4,1996, and Consolidated Electric Cooperative, Inc. was incorporated on July 1, 1996.

Today
With a proud history of more than 60 years of service to our rural communities, Consolidated Electric now provides service to nearly 16,000 homes and businesses in Delaware, Franklin, Knox, Licking, Marion, Morrow, Richland and Union counties. Today, we serve an average of just seven customers per mile of line, yet our electric rates are very competitive with those offered by neighboring investor-owned utilities that average more than 30 customers per mile of line.

And in keeping to our commitment of providing the best possible service to our members, Consolidated has grown into a multi-faceted corporation, including subsidiary companies that offer Internet, natural gas, propane services, and plumbing/heating and electrical.