AECI formed to provide low-cost, wholesale power to cooperatives
The earliest photograph found of Associated's board of directors was made between March 1962 and May 1966. Counterclockwise from right are Elon Proffer and James W. Owens Jr., M&A; Eugene Smith and Rex Dewey, KAMO; staff members Neil Adams, Ed Jehle and Jim McNabb; Fay Martz and John Buck, NW; R.D. Pennewell and Mike Boudreaux, Northeast; Albert Schindler and Truman Green, Central; and Luther Riddle and Charlie Boulson, Sho-Me.
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“They just did it.
“There was no law that said they could.
“But neither was there a law that said they couldn’t.
“So in 1961, the rural electric cooperatives of Missouri just did it. They pooled their resources to create the huge power supply organization called Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.,” according to the preface of AECI’s history book, “Win-Win.”
Since its formation by its six owner generation and transmission cooperatives, AECI has grown under the leadership of its member-directed board and management. Today, AECI has a strong financial position and is one of the largest and lowest-cost generation and transmission cooperatives in the nation.
AECI constructed its first generating unit in 1966. Today, it owns and operates a diverse mix of generating resources that total more than 4,000 megawatts of capacity.
AECI also adopted early the philosophy of working with neighboring utilities to avoid duplication and has developed an integrated transmission system that is one of the strongest in the country. The transmission system owned by AECI and the six G&Ts enables AECI to buy power when needed to serve members and to sell its excess generation, which brings in revenue that keeps down members’ rates.
Throughout the years of change and challenge, however, AECI has never lost focus of the reason it was formed: to provide an economical and reliable power supply and support services to its members.
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