Who We Are

A member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative, Central Electric Cooperative (CEC) has provided electric utility services to its members in central Oregon since 1941. CEC provides electric service to portions of Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson, Grant, Linn, Wasco, and Lake counties in central and eastern Oregon.

CEC is one of Oregon’s 18 member-owned cooperative electric utilities. CEC is a transmission and distribution cooperative. Its source of wholesale electricity is the federal power marketing agency, the Bonneville Power Administration. CEC obtains this supply through Portland, Oregon based PNGC Power, a generation and transmission cooperative owned by 14 Northwest electric distribution cooperative utilities, including CEC.

What is Central Electric Cooperative?

• CEC is a not-for-profit, consumer-owned corporation operated for the benefit of you.
• CEC is governed by a 9-member Board of Directors elected from the membership. Annual meetings are held on the 2nd Friday in April.
• CEC must reinvest earnings in excess of operating expenses or return “profits” to its members as “capital credits” or dividends.

Fast Facts

At the close of 2023:

• 38,067 accounts held by 30,508 members
• 5,300 square-mile service territory

CEC’s electrical system includes:

• 24 substations
• 4,111 miles of energized power lines
  • 184 miles of transmission line
  • 2,268 miles of overhead distribution line
  • 1,659 miles of underground distribution line

What Makes Us Different?

Vision Statement

The Cooperative will always represent our membership’s best interests.

Mission Statement

The aim of Central Electric Cooperative, Inc. is to make electric energy available to its members at the lowest cost consistent with sound economy and good management.

Adopted: 1941

Corporate Values

Committed to continuous improvement in:

• Workplace Safety
• Member Satisfaction
• Employee Success

With integrity in all we do.

Cooperative Principles

All cooperative businesses adhere to 7 guiding principles:

1. Voluntary and Open Membership
   Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership.
2. Democratic Member Control
   Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions. The elected representatives are accountable to the membership.
3. Members’ Economic Participation
   Members contribute equally to and democratically control the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative.
4. Autonomy and Independence
   Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.
5. Education
   Training and Information: Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation.
6. Cooperation Among Cooperatives
   Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.
7. Concern for Community
   While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.

History

CEC was established March 29, 1940. Today, CEC maintains thousands of miles of overhead and underground lines which provide electricity to 31,733 accounts.

Mileposts in CEC History

• 1940 – Rural residents file Articles of Association with State of Oregon for Central Electric Cooperative, Inc.; elect 9 charter members to board of directors; capitalize cooperative with $244,000 from Rural Electrification Administration.
• 1941 – Chairman Carl H. Baker throws switch at Deschutes Junction Substation, energizing 11 Redmond area farms.
• 1949 – To help finance utility infrastructure, CEC implements Capital Credits Plan, still in effect today.
• 1956 – Election of board of directors changed from “at large” selection to representation based on geographic districts reflective of communities served.
• 1962 – Oregon Public Utility Commission approves Central Electric service territory boundaries, resolving differences over exclusivity with Pacific Power & Light.
• 1977 – Redmond Chamber of Commerce gives Community Improvement Award to CEC for co-op’s new Redmond headquarters campus.
• 1978 – CEC initiates energy conservation program, later expanded to Home Energy Efficiency Program in 1982, which is still in effect today.
• 1995 – CEC and 11 other cooperative members of Power Resources Cooperative build and operate 2.5 megawatt Coffin Butte landfill gas-to-electricity renewable energy facility; expanded in 2007 to 5.66 megawatts.
• 2001 – CEC achieves a 60-year record low for power outage time per member- 18 minutes, 31 seconds per customer.
• 2010 – Capital Credits repaid to members exceeds $13 million.
• 2010 – Launched 3-year program to install Advanced Metering Infrastructure across CEC system. Installation was completed in late 2012.
• 2016 – Launched 200,000-watt community solar project, largest in state at time of launch.
• 2016 – Capital Credits repaid to members since 1958 exceed $22 million.

Carbon-Emission Free Hydro

CEC buys its wholesale electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration, which is responsible for marketing the electricity produced at 31 federally-operated hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River and its major tributaries distributed around the Pacific Northwest. As a result, the electricity CEC provides its members is virtually carbon-emission free. Specifically, the sources of our power generation mix are typically composed of:

• 84.2% from large hydroelectric projects
• 11.0% from the Columbia Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in south-central Washington
• 3.4% from non-specific power purchases by BPA, which includes some amount of emission-free renewable resources
• 1.4% from wind and other renewable sources

These numbers do fluctuate slightly from year to year, most often due to changes in snowpack levels and the resulting stream flows as the snow melts, runs to the rivers, and passes through the hydroelectric generating turbines.

In an era when the public is increasingly concerned about the emissions associated with electric power production, CEC members are fortunate to have some of the greenest energy in the United States.