Mission Statement

"Our mission is to provide access to safe, dependable, and affordable electric services."

Price Electric Cooperative exists today because in the 1930's only ten percent of rural America had electric service. The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created to provide low cost money to finance the electrification of rural areas by the federal government in 1935. Investor owned utilities were not interested in rural areas even with low cost money, so Rural Electric Cooperatives REC's) were formed by farmers and other rural people to bring electricity to the countryside.

As a member of Price Electric Cooperative, Inc., you are a part of a very unique business that is owned and controlled by the people it serves. The question asked most often by member/owners of Price Electric Cooperative is "Why are our rates higher than others?" Rates charged for electric service are always of concern. Because we operate in rural areas and have relatively low usage consumers, we cannot keep our rates as low as the investor owned utilities which serve the population centers in this area. Price Electric serves approximately 4.9 meters per mile of line compared to an average of 31 meters per mile for investor owned utilities. Their consumer base allows them to spread their expenses per mile over six times more meters, resulting in lower rates. We must continue to operate as efficiently as possible to keep our rates affordable for rural residents.

Our Source of Power

Price Electric Cooperative is an electric distribution cooperative. We do not generate any electric power. Electric Power is delivered to six substations in our service area by Dairyland Power Cooperative, of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, via their transmission system and partially on the transmission system of Xcel Energy. Price Electric distributes electric power from the substation to the member/owner over 1,800 miles of distribution lines. Dairyland Power Cooperative is owned by the twenty-five distribution cooperatives they serve, just as Price Electric is owned by its members. A member of Price Electric's board also serves as director on Dairyland's board of directors. Dairyland owns and operates generating plants along the Mississippi River which provide the electric needs for about 228,000 consumers through the twenty-five distribution systems that they serve.