VEC Celebrates 80th Anniversary

On May 29, 1935, a group of 500 Meigs County Citizens
met at the Meigs County Courthouse with the intention of
bringing electric service to the county.
For-profit power companies had declined to take on the
expense of bringing electricity to Meigs County and many
other rural areas in the region because they felt they had
to run too many miles of line to serve too few customers
and could not make a profit on the project. This group of
500 citizens formed the Meigs County Power Association
– the organization that is now known as Volunteer Energy
Cooperative.
The first lines were energized on August 6, 1936. Since that time VEC has grown
to serve more than 113,000 members in all or part of 17 different counties.
Through all that growth and the many changes that have affected the electricity
distribution industry, some things remain the same.
First and foremost, as the founders expected, VEC remains a not-for-profit
cooperative. Owned and operated solely for the members who get their electricity
from VEC, the cooperative has never made a single penny in profits. Our founders
demanded that VEC charge only what it costs to deliver service and VEC remains true
to that mandate after 80 years.
Our mission statement remains “To deliver the best possible service at the lowest
possible price.”
VEC’s founders also required that their power company do more than just deliver
electricity – they insisted that VEC get involved in the local communities they serve.
In other sections of this edition of Powerlines you’ll see articles about how VEC
has sponsored high school students and young adults in leadership development
conferences with the goal of equipping young leaders to serve their communities. VEC
also sponsors college scholarships, 4-H Electric Camp Scholarships, the Washington
Youth Tour for high school juniors, safety demonstrations, Project Deserve which helps
the needy with their electric bills, and the VECustomers Share program which has
donated more than $5.2 million to local community service organizations.
Throughout our 80 years VEC has also remained committed to employing the
latest proven technologies in order to provide superior service in the most economical
fashion. That has prompted a culture of constantly evaluating the technology we have
at work in our distribution system and continually reviewing equipment and systems
that will improve system reliability and help us operate in the most cost-effective way
possible.