Central Electric Cooperative, Inc. > About Central Electric > History

History

Historical archive photo of Central Electric’s line crew in 1949

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

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 nine-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 in the form of “capital credits” or dividends.

Mileposts in CEC History

  • 1940 Rural residents file Articles of Association with State of Oregon for Central Electric Cooperative, Inc.; elect nine 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 three-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.