With the approval from the REA (Rural Electric Administration), the formation of a permanent electric cooperative began. On October 6, 1937, the Articles of Incorporation were signed and filed with the Secretary of State by five farmers near Alma Center to form a farmer cooperative to construct electric lines to rural areas. This farmer cooperative was later named Jackson Electric Cooperative
On June 17, 1938 a contract with Snyder and Johnson of Humbolt, IA was signed for the construction of the first rural electric lines. Electricity was turned on December 1, 1938. Electricity came from Wisconsin Power Cooperative at Chippewa Falls which later joined with Tri-State Power Cooperative, now known as Dairyland Power Cooperative.
Seventy-two years later, Jackson Electric Cooperative is still providing electricity to over 6,100 homes and business with more than 1,400 miles of distribution line, nine substations, and nearly 7,500 services.
Jackson Electric Cooperative has a proud history of creating opportunities to meet the real needs of real people. When for-profit businesses were not interested in serving rural areas, people banded together and formed cooperatives to deliver electricity, provide insurance, and make farm supplies and other goods more affordable. Electric cooperatives in Wisconsin and elsewhere are nonprofit corporations, and cooperative philosophy dictates that services must be provided to members based on what it actually costs to provide them the service. The members own the cooperative; the cooperative is operated on sound principles.
On December 21, 1844, a tiny retail store in Rochdale, England opened its doors to business. This store was organized by financially strapped workers of nearby factories and was operated on a series of principles that eventually became the foundation for cooperative business practices everywhere. Today, more than 900 electric cooperatives in the U.S. are part of the family of cooperatives that provide goods and services to more than 700 million people.
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