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1933 |
Congress passes legislation establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Today the TVA manages numerous dams, 11 steam turbine power plants, and two nuclear power plants. Altogether these produce 125 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. |
May 11, 1935 |
Congress passes legislation establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Today the TVA manages numerous dams, 11 steam turbine power plants, and two nuclear power plants. Altogether these produce 125 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. |
May 20, 1936 |
U. S. Congress passes bill to authorize the Rural Electrification Administration as a continuing federal agency (49 Stat. 1363). |
March 30, 1937 |
With the election of a New Deal governor, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Electric Membership Corporations Act, which provided statewide recognition of cooperatives and REA in Georgia. |
1939 |
To downsize the number of agencies reporting to him, President Roosevelt incorporates REA into the Department of Agriculture. |
December 16, 1940 |
The Georgia Rural Power Reserve Electric Membership Corporation (GRPREMC) received its charter to represent Georgia’s cooperatives. |
1940s and 1950s |
The federal government gave a large amount of money to hydroelectric dam projects in Georgia in order to fuel cheap electricity. |
March 20, 1942 |
During World War II, shortages of supplies and production quotas prompt the formation of National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) in Washington D.C., led by rural Georgians. Under the leadership of Steven Tate, then president of Amicalola EMC in Jasper, NRECA successfully lifted the Office of Production Management’s ban of supplies for rural cooperatives. |
March 20, 1942 |
The newly formed National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) dedicated itself to bring power to the remaining unelectrified farms in rural America. NRECA was also a lobbying force in Congress to counteract the public utilities industry lobbying group. |
1944 |
Congress passed the Flood Control Act in 1944 to authorize the nationwide construction of dams. The act gave public bodies, including co-ops, first use of the power from federally funded hydroelectric dams. |
1944 |
Congress passed the Pace Act to extend REA as a lending agency and encourage further electrification of rural America. Sponsored by Stephen Pace of Georgia, the amendment dropped the interest rate to around 2 percent, well below the market rate, and lengthened the payment schedule to a maximum 35 years. |
Mid 1944 |
At newly named GEMC’s annual meeting, Steve Tate nominates Walter Harrison, to succeed him as president of GEMC. |
July 1945 |
GEMC published its first issue of Rural Georgia, a statewide monthly publication that unified the voice of Georgia electric cooperatives by providing them with relevant news and information. |
October 28, 1949 |
President Harry Truman signs an amendment to the Rural Electrification Act providing for the rural telephone loan program. REA’s goal encompassed more than just electricity, but focused on a better quality of life for rural Americans. |
1950 |
The Secretary of Interior created the Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA) to market electrical power generated by federal dams. SEPA gave preference in the sale of power to public bodies and cooperatives known as preference customers. Georgia electric cooperatives contracted with Georgia Power to provide transmission for the federal power, but gave little control to set rates and conditions. |
February 15, 1950 |
The General Assembly passed the Rural Telephone Cooperative Act, which provided for the formation of non-profit telephone cooperative corporations to supply telephone service in rural areas. |
1952 |
Elected in 1952, President Eisenhower publicly declared his disapproval of the 2% interest rate and his support of private industry and big business. |
1953 |
Congress passed a second reorganization act which gave the Secretary of Agriculture authority over the REA administrator. The REA administrator is now required to clear all loans of $500,000 and over with the Secretary’s office.
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May 7, 1956 |
Georgia Power and GEMC reach an agreement to provide fair access to power generated by the federally-owned Clark Hill Dam. Cooperatives sold electricity at a reduced rate to Georgia Power in exchange for the use of its transmission lines. |
late 1950s |
GEMC began a serious inquiry into Georgia Power’s possible territory infringements into undefined rural territories and industrial power contracts. |
1959 |
Eisenhower vetoed the Humphrey Price Bill, which was an attempt to assure that REA administrators would retain final authority to make REA loans. Sponsored by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, the bill was meant to remove outside politics from REA and the loan process |
January 25, 1960 |
After a difficult two year debate, the General Assembly passed a bill defining the territorial limits of rural electric cooperatives. As rural areas became incorporated into cities, cooperatives wanted protection from power companies raiding the customers in these newly annexed areas. |
1962 |
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contacted NRECA for help in rural electrification projects in Nicaragua. Since then, NRECA International has helped over 70 million people gain access to electricity through cooperatives based on the rural electrification program in the United States. |
January 24, 1966 |
Under pressure to reduce the REA budget, the Johnson administration called on Congress to reduce REA’s loan funds. |
April 10, 1969 |
To finance capital investments and supplement REA funding, NRECA members approved the incorporation of a not-for-profit financing bank owned by the cooperatives and funded by them. |
May 11, 1973 |
Congress adds a new amendment to the REA act that created a loan program in a separate rural electrification and telephone fund, financed by loan repayments and sale of notes. |
March 29, 1973 |
Governor Jimmy Carter signed the much debated Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act, which enabled customers outside of restricted areas with loads of 900kW or greater a choice in their electric supplier. |
August 8, 1974 |
Oglethorpe Power Corporation became the first power and transmission cooperative in Georgia. It provided lower electrical rates for cooperatives throughout Georgia. |
1975 |
Oglethorpe Power and Georgia EMCs invested $513 million dollars through purchasing co-ownerships with four major facilities planned by the Georgia Power Company, which overwhelmed with inflation rates, price increases, and capital costs. |
May 1987 |
Plant Vogtle, Georgia’s first nuclear facility, opened through a unique partnership between Georgia Power
and Oglethorpe Power. |
October 13, 1994 |
Congress passed the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act, which disbanded REA and consolidated all the REA utility programs into the Rural Utilities Service. The Act created the USDA Rural Development department to administer non-farm financial programs for rural areas. |
2002 |
Section 6103 of the 2002 Farm Bill authorized the creation of the Rural Broadband Loan and Loan Guarantee Program to increase the rate of technology development in small towns and rural areas. The Rural Utilities Service administers the program to rural communities with less than 20,000 people. In 2005, the RUS expanded the broadband loan program to small towns. |
October 1, 2003 |
Green Power EMC, a program with 17 EMCs, delivered Georgia’s first “green” energy generated from renewable resources, like low-impact hydro, solar, and biomass. |
October 22, 2003 |
NRECA CEO Glenn English signed a memorandum of understanding with Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to reduce greenhouse gas intensity and advance cost-effective methods of energy production with electric cooperatives. |
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