Powersouth Research Paper

What was it like before electricity? How did girls dry their hair? How did they watch Netflix? It is hard to imagine our modern lives without it. Society today is so dependent on electricity that we often overlook where it comes from. So, the two big questions: Where does our electricity come from and who gives it to us?

Before the 1930s, the only areas with access to electricity were cities that had factories and businesses (“History of Electric Co-Ops”). This meant that the rural areas were overlooked by the electric companies.Because the rural areas were so secluded, it made it very expensive for companies to try to reach them. That was a major issue for the privately owned companies leaving nine out of ten farm houses unable to receive electricity (“History of Electric Co-Ops”). As time went on, electricity became a necessity. In May of 1933, the federal government passed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act. This was the beginning of the push to bring electricity to the rural areas. On May 11, 1935, President Roosevelt passed the Rural Electrification Act (“History of Electric Co-ops”).

Alabama Electric Cooperative was founded in 1941, and in 2008 changed its name to PowerSouth Energy Cooperative (“Corporate Overview”).The main goal of the new cooperative was to reach the places in Alabama and parts of Florida that other companies could not or were not willing to take the risk of reaching (“Company Overview of PowerSouth”). They were formed as a non-profit organization made up of

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eleven cooperatives to make and sell electricity (Keep Calm and Youth Tour 5). Within four years after the end of World War II rural electric systems nearly doubled. More

than 90% of United States farms had electricity by 1953 (“History of Electric Co-Ops”). However, one of the problems electric cooperatives faced was the overlapping of areas. In 1998, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives was created. Touchstone was made up of more than six-hundred co-ops over forty-six states that were similar to PowerSouth. Touchstone linked them together and was able to provide millions of users with affordable electricity (Keep Calm and Youth Tour 6).

Across the country there are many electrical cooperatives. Today, they are all working together to make America such a great nation in which to live. Now, Touchstone is made up of thirty-seven million member-owners (“Our History”). All membership fees are, and always have been, five dollars (Woods). Almost 2.2 million miles of power lines across America are sponsored by Touchstone Energy. It is such a widely-known organization that they are located in more than 74% of the United States’ counties (“Our History”). Touchstone’s belief system is serving their members with integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to their communities (Keep Calm and Youth Tour 6).

PowerSouth Energy Cooperative is located in Andalusia, Alabama. Gary Smith is the president and chief executive officer of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative (Keep Calm and Youth Tour 5). Today, it serves about one million people in thirty-nine counties in Alabama and ten counties in Florida. As one of sixty-two G&T cooperatives,

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PowerSouth