West Florida Electric Cooperative
Encyclopedia
West Florida Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WFEC) is a not-for-profit rural electric utility cooperative
headquartered in Graceville, Florida
. It is a member of the Florida Electric Cooperatives Association, the National Rural Electric Association
, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative and the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives
alliance.
established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935 by signing Executive Order 7037 to bring electricity to rural areas of the country and to customers not serviced by the large power companies. West Florida Electric Cooperative was organized in 1937 and began distributing electricity in 1939. William Walter Henley served as WFEC’s first Board of Directors' President.
Since 1937, WFEC has continued to grow and expand. In 1977, WFEC bought Sportsman’s Park, home field of the Graceville Oilers baseball team of the Alabama-Florida League (AFL)
and converted it into a pole yard. District offices were opened in Bonifay
and Sneads
in 1986 and 1988 to meet the needs of West Florida’s growing customer base.
; The Utilities Board of the City of Andalusia, Ala; The City of Brundidge, Ala; Water Works & Electric Board of the City of Elba, Ala; and Utilities Board of the City of Opp, Ala. In 1998, WFEC joined the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives’ branding alliance to pools its resources and knowledge with other co-ops from across the U.S.
Currently, West Florida Electric serves more than 27,000 customers in portions of four counties, including Jackson, Calhoun, Holmes & Washington in Northwest Florida.
and at WFEC.
In 2007, WFEC began converting its metering system to automated meter reading
or AMR. AMR technology helps the cooperative in a variety of ways including reducing outage response times, outage verification, providing timely date for customers and early detection of problems and voltage monitoring.
Utility cooperative
A utility cooperative is a type of cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications to its members...
headquartered in Graceville, Florida
Graceville, Florida
Graceville is a city in Jackson County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,402 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S...
. It is a member of the Florida Electric Cooperatives Association, the National Rural Electric Association
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the organization that represents over 900 electric cooperatives in the United States. Independent electric utilities are not-for-profit and are owned by their members...
, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative and the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives
Touchstone Energy
Touchstone Energy Cooperatives is a cooperative federation composed of over 660 local, consumer-owned utility cooperatives in 46 of the 50 United States. Touchstone Energy co-ops serve more than 30 million members. Electric utility cooperatives distribute power for 75 percent of the U.S. land mass...
alliance.
History
President Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935 by signing Executive Order 7037 to bring electricity to rural areas of the country and to customers not serviced by the large power companies. West Florida Electric Cooperative was organized in 1937 and began distributing electricity in 1939. William Walter Henley served as WFEC’s first Board of Directors' President.
Since 1937, WFEC has continued to grow and expand. In 1977, WFEC bought Sportsman’s Park, home field of the Graceville Oilers baseball team of the Alabama-Florida League (AFL)
Alabama-Florida League
The Alabama–Florida League was a low-level circuit in American minor league baseball that existed from 1936 through 1939 and 1951 through 1962. In 1940–1941 and from 1946–1950, the absence of clubs based in Florida caused the league to change its name to the Alabama State League.The Class D loop's...
and converted it into a pole yard. District offices were opened in Bonifay
Bonifay, Florida
Bonifay is a city in Holmes County, Florida, United States. Bonifay was given its name from a prominent family that had a brick making factory in Pensacola, FL. Frank Bonifay, the man behind the town's name, bought a stake in the L%N, now CSX, Railroad. As W. D...
and Sneads
Sneads, Florida
Sneads is a town in Jackson County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,919 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 1,911 .-Geography:Sneads is located at ....
in 1986 and 1988 to meet the needs of West Florida’s growing customer base.
Operations
PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, formerly Alabama Electric Cooperative, is WFEC’s generation and transmission co-op (G&T). This means that West Florida purchases the power it distributes to its members from PowerSouth. As a member of PowerSouth, WFEC is an owner of the cooperative along with fifteen other electric cooperatives and four municipal electric systems in Alabama and Northwest Florida. PowerSouth's members are: Baldwin EMC; Central Alabama EC; CHELCO; Clarke-Washington EMC; Coosa Valley EC; Covington EC; Dixie EC; Escambia River EC; Gulf Coast EC; Pea River EC; Pioneer EC; South Alabama EC; Southern Pine EC; Tallapoosa River EC; Wiregrass ECWiregrass Electric Cooperative
Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, Inc. is a not-for-profit rural electric utility cooperative headquartered in Hartford, Alabama. It is a member of the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives and the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives alliance....
; The Utilities Board of the City of Andalusia, Ala; The City of Brundidge, Ala; Water Works & Electric Board of the City of Elba, Ala; and Utilities Board of the City of Opp, Ala. In 1998, WFEC joined the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives’ branding alliance to pools its resources and knowledge with other co-ops from across the U.S.
Currently, West Florida Electric serves more than 27,000 customers in portions of four counties, including Jackson, Calhoun, Holmes & Washington in Northwest Florida.
Other
During 2005, West Florida Electric partnered with the Cooperative Research Network (CRN) and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) to study broadband over power lines (BPL) technology. The trial was to evaluate if BPL worked, how much data it carried, how far and how easy/difficult the technology was to set up. The BPL demonstrations took place on a stretch of medium-voltage overhead power lines at Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO)Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative
The Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative is an electric distribution cooperative which is headquartered in Hughesville, Maryland. SMECO serves approximately 144,000 customers in Calvert, Charles, Prince George's, and St. Mary's counties of southern Maryland...
and at WFEC.
In 2007, WFEC began converting its metering system to automated meter reading
Automatic meter reading
Automatic meter reading, or AMR, is the technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from water meter or energy metering devices and transferring that data to a central database for billing, troubleshooting, and analyzing.This technology mainly saves utility...
or AMR. AMR technology helps the cooperative in a variety of ways including reducing outage response times, outage verification, providing timely date for customers and early detection of problems and voltage monitoring.
External links
- West Florida Electric Cooperative
- Florida Electric Cooperatives Association
- Touchstone Energy
- National Rural Electric Association
- National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC)
- Powersouth Energy (formerly AEC)
- Our Energy, Our Future
See also
- Electric cooperativesUtility cooperativeA utility cooperative is a type of cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications to its members...
- Touchstone EnergyTouchstone EnergyTouchstone Energy Cooperatives is a cooperative federation composed of over 660 local, consumer-owned utility cooperatives in 46 of the 50 United States. Touchstone Energy co-ops serve more than 30 million members. Electric utility cooperatives distribute power for 75 percent of the U.S. land mass...
- Wiregrass ECWiregrass Electric CooperativeWiregrass Electric Cooperative, Inc. is a not-for-profit rural electric utility cooperative headquartered in Hartford, Alabama. It is a member of the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives and the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives alliance....
- Automatic meter readingAutomatic meter readingAutomatic meter reading, or AMR, is the technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from water meter or energy metering devices and transferring that data to a central database for billing, troubleshooting, and analyzing.This technology mainly saves utility...
- broadband over power lines (BPL)
- BPL Deployments