Boone Electric Cooperative

Founded in 1936 as the first electric cooperative in Missouri, Boone Electric continues to serve the people who own their cooperative - you, the member-owners.

We are dedicated to providing the best service to you and your family or business and to being active members of the community. We're in it for the future, just as we have been in the past.

Mission Statement

The mission of Boone Electric Cooperative is to provide reliable electric energy and other services at the lowest possible cost consistent with sound business practices and cooperative principles.

What is a cooperative?

• A co-op is member owned.
• A co-op has open membership and may provide service to anyone within its territorial boundaries.
• A co-op is locally managed.
• A co-op is service oriented.
• A co-op may refund capital credit dividends to its members.

Your cooperative at a glance

• Located in Columbia, Missouri.
• Provides electric service to more than 30,000 homes, farms and businesses.
• Serves Boone County and portions of Randolph, Audrain, Monroe, Howard and Callaway counties.
• 2,918 miles of electric line, with a density of 10.46 meters per mile of line.
• Governed by a nine-person board of directors, elected by the membership.
• Locally owned and operated.
• Operated with Innovation, Accountability, Integrity and Commitment to Community values.
• Returned more than $60 million in capital credits to our members since the mid 1950s.
• First cooperative in Missouri to offer renewable energy to its members. 
• Since 1997, the Boone Electric Community Trust has given back $2.5 million to the community.
• Boone Electric, along with the 40 other Missouri electric cooperatives, gets its power primarily from coal-fired power plants, which are administered by Central Electric Power Cooperative and Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc.

It All Started with a Letter

In Boone County, Wilbur Watson and his wife, May, wrote to Washington, D.C., to see about 'getting the REA.' Soon a representative came from Washington to meet with area farmers. Boone County Electric Cooperative was incorporated on June 11, 1936.

Neighbors began collecting the required $5 membership fee - a lot of money during the 1934-36 drought. Three members per mile were required in an area before plans could be made to build a power line.

Electric power was purchased from the Columbia Water and Light Department, and line construction soon began throughout the county. A few residents of Harrisburg still remember being promised electricity for Christmas and, despite the distance of the line and bad weather delays, they had twinkling lights on Christmas Eve 1937.

A quiet revolution had begun as farm homes got lights, refrigerators, irons and other conveniences previously enjoyed only by those living in the city.