Rappahannock Electric Cooperative

Rappahannock Electric Cooperative’s (REC) Facebook page is designed to complement our other print and online communications. Topics covered are of general interest to our membership (and, often, to the public) and include energy efficiency, product and service offerings, general outage updates, community events, business developments, and electrical safety.

REC is a member-owned utility that provides electric service to over 161,000 connections in portions of 22 Virginia counties. The Cooperative was formed in 1980 after the consolidation of two cooperatives, Virginia Electric Cooperative in Bowling Green and Northern Piedmont Electric Cooperative in Culpeper. The Cooperative's general office is in Spotsylvania County.

REC operates and maintains more than 16,000 miles of power lines through its service area, which ranges from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The Cooperative serves a variety of residential, commercial and industrial accounts. REC's largest customer is Bear Island Paper Company, the second largest consumer of electricity in Virginia. REC also provides the electricity for such familiar names as Kings Dominion Amusement Park, Terremark Worldwide Inc., Merillat Industries, General Electric, Axalta, Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and Southeastern Container, Inc.

The Cooperative is guided by a board of directors, also member-owners of REC, and who are elected by REC's other members during the annual meeting. Directors serve three-year terms.

At REC, safety is our top priority. There is no safer energy source than electricity, when it is properly used. We encourage you to keep these rules in mind, and always follow them:

• Stay away from REC equipment and trucks where crews are working on lines.
• Stay away and keep others away from fallen power lines (including telephone and cable TV lines). Call your local emergency services department and REC immediately if you see downed lines.
• Keep all objects away from power lines. Ladders, antennas, and kites can be fatal when they contact a power line.
• Never touch a person who is in contact with a live power line.
• Plant trees away from overhead power lines and underground transformers.
• Don't build or construct anything under overhead power lines.
• When you see our crews and equipment along roadsides, slow down and proceed with care.
• If someone comes to your home as an REC employee, ask for identification, and look for our logo on the familiar yellow vehicle.