Ozark Electric Cooperative, Inc

As members/owners of Ozark Electric Cooperative, your electrical needs have always been our top priority. For the past 75+ years, we have seen many changes with the advent of first electricity, and then technology into our lives. NOW with the flip of a switch we have electrical power in our homes and businesses. THEN (that is over 75 years ago) this was not the case. Let's take a look back at the history of Ozark Electric Cooperative.

REA established 1935. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) May 11, 1935, with signing of Executive Order 7037. It was estimated at the time that over 5,000,000 farms were entirely without electric service. Private and municipal utilities were given the first opportunity to serve the rural areas. However, due to the fact that power was generated from central stations, usually a considerable distance from the farming areas, these utilities were reluctant to venture out into the rural areas due to cost. REA was created as a means of solving this problem. Beginning in 1936, farmers were allowed to form their own electric cooperatives through loans obtained from REA. That same year, farmers in this area began working on creating their own cooperative. These early pioneers worked many hours without compensation to get electricity to the rural areas. Many farmers and their wives were worried about what they thought would be the equivalent of bringing lightning into their homes. Also, some did not want to give up the $5 membership fee to join REA on something as mysterious and perhaps dangerous as electricity.

Ozark Electric Cooperative established 1937. Local interested farmers, with the aid of C. C. Keller, then the county agent of Greene County; and John W. Woodward, the county agent of Lawrence County, held many community meetings in school-houses, homes, etc., to promote the REA program. After over a year of selling the idea of electricity to the area farmers, their hard work paid off when on October 21, 1937, twelve Lawrence, Greene, Dade, and Polk County farmers met in the Lawrence County Courthouse at Mt. Vernon and formed Ozark Electric Cooperative, Inc. (OEC). 

Ozark Electric was among the first cooperatives to be formed in Missouri, and for many years was the state's largest electric cooperative. Along with other Missouri cooperatives, OEC enjoyed rapid growth. In 1936, only 6% of the farmers of Missouri were receiving central station electric service. By 1960, that percentage had risen to 97%. Ozark Electric grew as the word got out about the convenience of electricity. An Ozark Electric Cooperative newsletter dated September 20, 1942, reported that the number of consumers billed that year was 2,260. Currently, Ozark Electric Cooperative is billing 30,000+ meters. 

Contact :

Nixa District Office
417-725-5160
P.O. Box 1050
2007 James River Court (Hwy AA)
Nixa, MO 65714
Hours 7:30am - 4:30pm
Mon-Fri

Cape Fair District Office
417-538-2273
P.O. Box 287
7928 State Hwy 76
Cape Fair, MO 65624
Hours 7:30am - 12:00pm 
Then 1:00pm - 4:30pm 
Mon-Fri