Customers Own Ozarks Electric Cooperative

When several rural residents banded together and signed a local petition in favor of electricity, they sparked the beginnings of what is today one of Northwest Arkansas’ largest private companies. Founded on May 16, 1938, the Ozarks Electric Cooperative has undergone immense expansion since its founding date 60 years ago.

Penny Storms, spokeswoman for Ozarks Electric Cooperative Corp., says that, after enough signatures had been collected on the petition, electric lines were established under the authority of the Rural Electrification Administration.

Ozarks Electric’s first official line was energized on May 10, 1939, and was accessible to some 1,000 customers within its 250-mile radius. The following year, an additional line was extended 257 miles into parts of Oklahoma.

Its humble beginnings make the company unique in that its “cooperative” standing means customers are members as well as joint owners of the company. Member-owners elect representatives to the seven-member board that governs Ozarks Electric Cooperative. The board members each serve seven-year terms.

An an electric cooperative, the company is a non-profit organization and that entitles member-owners to an annual refund in the form of capital credit. The refund is comprised of all the profits that exceed the total costs of operations for a given year and is based on the total amount that a member-owner has spent that year.

Storms says that member-owners each pay a $5 membership fee to receive electricity from the company. In addition to their annual refunds, member-owners also receive notices of an annual business meeting and periodic publications to keep them informed of company activities.

Storms says Ozarks Electric has partnered with organizations such as the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to ensure future industrial development. Nevertheless, most of the co-op’s growth today is a result of residential expansion.

In 1957, Ozarks Electric Cooperative was bound to territorial areas of service determined under the Arkansas Public Service Commission, which still governs the company. However, the company’s boundaries have now been extended to reach a community well beyond its rural beginnings.

Storms says that Ozarks Electric Cooperative currently serves nearly 47,000 customers in both rural and urban limits in parts of Benton, Crawford, Franklin, Madison and Washington counties in Arkansas, and its service extends to Adair, Cherokee, Delaware and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma.

With revenues equal to $47.2 million in 1997, Ozarks is confident that the future will bring even greater success, Storms says.

The prospect of customer choice of electric companies will remove territorial boundaries from Ozarks Electric. Storms says that the company is optimistic about this prospective change and officials hope that, if competition is allowed, that it will continue to allow fair rates to all classes, which she says has been a major emphasis of the company.