As we come together to celebrate our 70th year as an electric cooperative, we’d like to reflect this month on the story of our members. After all, they are the focus of Mid-South Synergy and the reason electricity was introduced into our community.
It’s a grand story that speaks of struggle and hardship, reward and determination. And the one consistent theme is how Mid-South Synergy members move forward together. With this spirit, the electric co-op has provided the great service of affordable, reliable electricity.
70 years seems like such a long time. But it’s just the beginning of what our members did, can, and will do together.
“It’s here! Electricity Has Arrived!”
This is what Mid-South Synergy was proclaiming during their first Annual Meeting back in 1940. Today, the electric cooperative is just as excited about providing power to homes.
Looking back, it was a challenge just to get the co-op off the ground. Some of our early members will remember coming out of the 30’s with bone-dry bank accounts from ‘The Great Depression’.
Or they’ll recall in the same decade dark, luminous dust clouds destroying crops all over Texas called the Dust Bowl. Before 1940, there was so much effort spent just to live.
Along with these previous setbacks, they didn’t have the support of any commercial electric provider, many banks wouldn’t give loans for electricity, and locally there were some who didn’t understand the technology and frowned at the idea. No one wanted to take a risk on the rural farmer obtaining electricity. When you think about the difficulties, it’s impressive that Mid-South Synergy members were able to start the cooperative in the first place.
But they did. They convinced congress to support electrification of rural America because their instinct told them it would be worth the effort. And today, it’s paid off.
So what kept discouragement from taking reign? How did the individuals in Walker, Waller, Madison, Brazos, Grimes, and Montgomery counties handle the stresses of the beginning – let alone set up an infrastructure for electric service? The simple answer is: they came together.
Coming Together to Gain
Coming together seems like such a generic explanation of why Mid-South Synergy is the organization it is today. But those two words truly made the difference in the beginning. In fact, it’s the way an electric co-op is set-up.
An electric cooperative differs from an investor owned utility company (IOU) in the sense of who the organization caters to. An IOU is created to benefit stockholders and investors, giving the least amount possible for the greatest profit. And it’s a profit that doesn’t always go back into the local community. In fairness, this is the model of many businesses.
But a cooperative is created to benefit members. Any profits are returned to membership through Capital Credits. And to become a member, someone has to build or move into a home on Mid-South’s lines or operate a business in the service territory.
So sticking together to benefit our local community is in the very seams of what Mid-South Synergy is. The founders stood unified realizing electricity would be a huge advantage in their daily lives. It would be so much more than a convenience; it could be a game changer for the community.
Electric tools alone could allow a farmer to yield higher crop returns. Electricity could also provide water and plumbing inside – a burden previously so tedious it took hours to complete everyday. It would give safer light at night so one lamp’s runaway spark wouldn’t burn the entire house down. The advantages were great and immediate.
Some benefits were not sudden but just as attractive. Education became a huge bonus. According to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), surveys would show in later years educational levels or rural children increased dramatically upon the introduction of electricity.
NRECA explains “The circle of light cast by a single kerosene lamp at night was small, and there were seldom enough lamps in most homes. Everyone huddled around what was equivalent to 25 watts of light, all trying to do their work such as sewing, reading, or school work.” With more light, the children could perform better in school.
Another long-term impact was the sustainability of the local economy. Factories and stores could now function in our community allowing growth and job opportunities for our members. And with their children getting better educations, there was an able work force ready to fill these new jobs without being forced to find employment in large cities. Opportunity began to knock right next door.
When construction began in 1940, you might understand there was considerable excitement. Quite simply, electricity was the beginning of a new, exciting era.
New Challenges Created
To say our members’ vision succeeded is an understatement. Electricity breathed life into towns like Huntsville, Navasota, Madisonville, and Montgomery. Stores and commerce opened up to new local markets where rural famers could sell their goods.
Mid-South Synergy became recognized locally as a name you can trust and as a new local employer, the co-op hired young men and women to work and bring about this exciting time.
It did still take some effort to get everyone on board. Retired co-op employee Floyd Nowak was with Mid-South Synergy from almost the beginning. He says it might sound strange now, but Mid-South had to “sell the idea of electricity” to some residents.
“We had this display kitchen set up in our first office,” Nowak says. “It had an electric stove with a sink. We would have local residents come in so they could see first-hand how cooking and heating water could be much easier.”
Floyd smiles as he recollects the early years. “Once the women saw how much easier their work would be, rest assured their husbands would be convinced on the rest.”
Electricity continued to do well and became a household fixture in decades that followed. In fact, with new generations being born with no memory of the early days, many began to have no knowledge of what it was like without electric power. The power supply was seemingly endless.
Not until the late 70’s did that perspective begin to change. Events like the oil crisis of 1973 spearheaded an understanding that natural resources were not unlimited.
Also, scientists began to theorize expiration dates on coal and fossil fuels. And added to this was a growing debate that pollution created from power plants was dangerous to the environment. Suddenly, politics surrounded the topic of energy and these concerns had an indirect impact on the cost for electricity.
As these discussions occurred, there was doubt for the first time since the co-op’s beginning if electricity could be affordable and reliable. It was a new type of challenge.
Before, the struggle had always been to get the co-op off the ground. Now, there was doubt if the service had sustainability. But as we see in the beginning, our members stood together to overcome this new challenge.
Only this time it would not be to gain, they would stand together to save.
Solutions Found through Conservation
Answering the challenge to keep electricity affordable is a hard pill to swallow. Energy had been so abundant that the idea of a limit was startling.
Our members didn’t create these obstacles but they did make the decision to find solutions. They supported Mid-South Synergy in researching new technology like Automatic Meter Reading and smart grid technology. They invested in energy saving appliances and shared information with each other on effective ways to save energy.
These efforts in the 80’s and 90’s paved the way into what we call now energy conservation. And the movement has kept costs down and Mid-South Synergy a more efficient electric provider.
Our members have also collectively stood together in raising their voices to congress. You might remember last year’s ‘Our Energy, Our Future’ campaign. The movement involved our members and other co-ops across the nation speaking out to congress requesting fair climate legislation.
Through these efforts, our government listened and did stop the bill that would have cost our members up to 20% more on their rates. With this recent success, it shows our members continue to work together accomplishing what is fair and reasonable for the community.
New Times Remind Us of the Beginning
It’s 2010 and our members’ story is still compelling. We show new growth as our membership becomes over 17,000 (see the charts on the next page) and our line density increases.
Of course, tough challenges do lie ahead. 2009 was a tough year and new national energy policy potentially looms. But if there’s anything we’ve learned as a co-op over the last 70 years, it’s that our members are resilient and adaptable.
With new programs like ‘Budget Billing’ and ‘Pay-As-You-Go’, we’re able to offer easy ways for our members to save. Communication tools like the newly designed www.midsouthsynergy.com and our electronic newsletter ‘Synergy Spot’ help our members connect and organize on a whole new level.
With this ‘synergy’ of new ideas, Mid-South Synergy is a stronger organization than ever before. Our members still stand unified showing their support of reliable, affordable electricity.
The tale of our members’ unbreakable character as they defied a great depression, withstood an energy crisis, outlasted all doubt of whether rural America could handle electricity - still lives today. Only the story’s chapter has changed.
It begins this year with “together we save” but will always read the same at the end:
“...and we did it together.”