History

During the 1930's, investor-owned power companies would not build power lines into sparsely populated areas because it was not profitable or economically feasible to do so. President Franklin D. Roosevelt saw the need to bring electricity to rural communities and established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) on May 11, 1935. This administration was, and is a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and helped communities form electric cooperatives while providing low interest loans to finance the building of electric lines and other equipment.

West Florida Electric Cooperative Association, Inc. was formed on December 10, 1937 by 712 rural residents who banded together and borrowed $194,000 from REA to build the original 262 miles of line that was utilized to serve this area. The actual operation of the company began in 1939.

Since that historic day in 1939, West Florida Electric Cooperative (WFEC) has grown to serve the four counties of Calhoun, Holmes, Jackson and Washington. WFEC currently has more than 4,000 miles of energized lines serving over 28,000 member-owners. Each mile of line serves approximately five consumers. The main office of WFEC is located on Peanut Road in Graceville. WFEC also has two district offices, one in Bonifay and the other in Sneads. WFEC receives the majority of its wholesale power from Alabama Electric Cooperative, a generation and transmission cooperative, based in Andalusia, Ala.

Since its inception, WFEC's main goal has always been to serve its member-owners with a reliable source of electricity at the lowest possible cost consistent with good management practices. In 1999, to help achieve this goal, WFEC became a Touchstone Energy® Cooperative. Touchstone Energy® is an alliance of local, consumer-owned utilities around the country committed to providing superior service to all customers large and small. West Florida Electric Cooperative is a part of this alliance locally owned and operated by its members. Each Touchstone Energy® Cooperative adheres to four core values: integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. WFEC is a not-for-profit company that delivers energy to member-owners while maintaining these values.

In 2005, WFEC demonstrated its commitment to innovation and community by participating in the "green power" project at Spring Hill Regional Landfill. "Green power" is the term used to describe energy generated entirely or partially from environmentally preferable renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas, and low-impact hydro. WFEC joined Waste Management (WM) and PowerSouth Energy Cooperative in constructing a landfill gas-to-energy facility. At this facility, methane gas will be collected and burned to generate electricity. Once the power is generated, WFEC will deliver it to PowerSouth via a WFEC distribution line that interconnects the transmission grid at the Campbellton substation and offer it for resale to environmentally-minded, member-owners of WFEC.