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History

When Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive was orga­nized in June 1940, its founders could not have known that in a lit­tle more than a year, the Unit­ed States would be deeply embroiled in World War II. In rur­al coastal Geor­gia, our boys who would be com­ing home from the ser­vice had only two oppor­tu­ni­ties: Stay near their homes and work on the farm; or move to the city, where elec­tric­i­ty pow­ered the fac­to­ries and indus­try offered oppor­tu­ni­ties to earn good mon­ey and have a bet­ter life.

Video: “Power and the Land” (1940)

From the Past to ‘The Next Greatest Thing’

With­out elec­tric­i­ty, all work was done by hand. There was no refrig­er­a­tion to keep milk cold. Water was lift­ed from open wells by hand. With only dim flick­er­ing oil lamps by which to read, life was essen­tial­ly a sun­rise-to-sun­set propo­si­tion. But with the com­ing of elec­tric­i­ty, that world was about to change.

Rural couple eating dinner with kerosene lantern at the light source

Through the com­mit­ment of a $5 mem­ber­ship fee from each of a few hun­dred res­i­dents of Lib­er­ty and McIn­tosh coun­ties, Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive bor­rowed $138,000 from the Rur­al Elec­tric Admin­is­tra­tion and built the first pow­er lines down Har­ris Neck Road in north McIn­tosh Coun­ty.

Female teacher demonstrating electric lighting to rural students

Soon Coastal Elec­tric line­men would extend pow­er lines through­out the region, and oil lamps would be replaced by elec­tric lights.

Tenant farm family in a house with an electric meter installed on the exterior

In a rur­al church, a mem­ber gave this tes­ti­mo­ny: “Broth­ers and sis­ters, I want to tell you this. The great­est thing on earth is to have the love of God in your heart, and the next great­est thing is to have elec­tric­i­ty in your house.” The con­gre­ga­tion echoed a resound­ing “Amen!”

Man speaking from bandwagon

While bring­ing elec­tric­i­ty to the scat­tered com­mu­ni­ties in rur­al coastal Geor­gia tru­ly was “the next great­est thing” in the 1940s, today Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive looks with eager antic­i­pa­tion to the future and won­ders, “What will be the ‘next great­est thing’ for our chil­dren?”

Rural electric line workers installing utility lines

The same elec­tric lines that first brought elec­tric­i­ty to the farms and homes now car­ry giga­bits of data through strands of fiber-optic cable wound inside an alu­minum con­duc­tor. Our advanced meter­ing infra­struc­ture (AMI) meters do so much more than just record your month­ly elec­tric­i­ty use. They lead our line­men to a pow­er out­age and a myr­i­ad of oth­er things, from home automa­tion to ener­gy man­age­ment.

Solar Panels

Just as the founders of Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive nev­er could have envi­sioned what their co-op would be more than 80 years after 1940, we can only imag­ine what will be the “next great­est thing” for the gen­er­a­tion of young peo­ple who will live through future decades of ser­vice from Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive.

Energy Solutions

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