History

SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative , Inc., is an electric power distribution system owned and controlled by its members. As a cooperatively owned private enterprise business, it operates on a not-for-profit basis and must have sufficient returns to make principal and interest payments on loans and to maintain the system in the proper condition to assure dependable service. All revenues, over and above the cost of doing business each year, are allocated to the members under a “capital credit” plan.

Organized in 1938 for the purpose of making electricity available to rural areas, SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative has grown steadily and now serves over 23,000 accounts through some 3,500 miles of power line. Because the Cooperative is locally owned by its members, each member has an equal voice in conducting business at an annual meeting.