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A Legacy of Service
For 90 years, People's Energy Cooperative has provided electric service to the rural communities and areas around Rochester. Here we share stories from our rich history of service to our members in Southeast Minnesota.
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Timeline
1929
The Great Depression Begins
1930
The Dust Bowl Begins
1933
Franklin D. Roosevelt Becomes President of the United States
1935
Rural Electrification Administration is Created
1939
World War II Begins
1945
Harry S. Truman Becomes President of the United States
100
By 1936, nearly 100 rural electric cooperatives in 26 states had loans with the REA.
300
By the end of 1938, 300 farms on 148 miles of line were energized.
137
In 1940, a member's average kWh usage was 81 kWh. By 1945, it had jumped to 137.
December 9, 1935
The Articles of Incorporation were signed to form People’s Cooperative Association of Olmsted County. As operations began in 1936, signing up members was a challenge. Many were skeptical of the project or concerned with making the investment. They reasoned that if the power companies felt it would not be profitable to send power lines into rural areas, a cooperative composed mostly of farmers was doomed to fail. Often, it took multiple visits before a member would be willing to pay the $2 membership fee.
October 19, 1937
The City of Rochester served as the Cooperative’s first power provider. An agreement was negotiated to buy wholesale power from Rochester’s North Broadway Power Plant which produced enough power to electrify 60,000 homes. This arrangement lasted nearly 20 years.
1938
John Brakke of Marion township was the first member to receive electricity from People's Energy Cooperative.
January 1943
During WWII, construction of new power lines were halted as construction materials were needed for the war effort. The War Production Board, which was responsible for the scale of priorities, relaxed its restrictions around January 1943. Farmers who were close to existing power lines could obtain extensions provided they could show that electricity would mean an increase in food production or a decrease in labor.
1944
The Cooperative purchased 66 miles of primary and secondary power lines connected to a total of 298 consumers from the Olmsted County Power Company.
- Radios were first used to communicate with field employees in the late 1930s, with widespread use taking hold in the 1940s, after WWII.
- Concept of digger derrick trucks emerges in the early 1940s.
- Insulated fiberglass tools, such as “shotgun sticks,” are used which allow linemen to perform more tasks at a safe distance away from energized power lines.
- Power outages were initially reported by mailing a postcard to the Cooperative.
Timeline
1950
Korean War begins
1953
Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President of the United States
1955
Mayo Building opens in downtown Rochester
1956
IBM begins operations in Rochester, MN
37
Employees employed by People's in 1949
3 k +
In 1948, PEC had 3,505 members on 1,622 miles of line.
416
In 1950, a members average energy usage was 273 kWh. By 1955, it had jumped to 416 kWh.
1947
Dairyland Power Cooperative's Alma Power Plant started generating electricity in 1947 and in 1957 it was considered the largest cooperatively-owned generation plant in the world.
1948
Three new People's substations were installed - in Plainview, Marion, and Rockdell.
January 1949
The Cooperative built a new office and warehouse space on north Broadway in Rochester.
1949
Construction on the Flameau hydro power dam in Ladysmith, WI began, coming online in just under two years.
1952
The Cooperative needed more power to serve its growing member demand and engaged Interstate Power and Light for additional wholesale power.
1955
The Cooperative was notified by the City of Rochester that it would have to reduce the power it provided to the Cooperative and by 1957 it discontinued service.
November 21, 1956
After having become a member of Dairyland Power Cooperative in 1955, a ceremony marking the energization of the Cooperative's lines by DPC was held.
- A-frame digger trucks evolve into hydraulic digger derrick trucks with auger, resulting in safer, more efficient work.
- Lineworkers transition from soft Stetson-style hats to hard hats, protecting them from falling objects.
Timeline
1955
Vietnam War begins
1961
John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States
1962
Cuban Missile Crisis occurs
1963
Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President of the United States
1964
The Civil Rights Act signed into law
$ 6 mil
Total assets as of December 31, 1960 were $6,014,344
789
In 1960, average kWh usage per member per month was 615 kWh, climbing to 789 kWh by 1965.
244 k
In 1965, 21 cooperative vehicles traveled a total of 244,135 miles; or almost 10 times around the world at the equator.
1960
The Upper Mississippi Valley Power Pool (UMVPP) was created between Dairyland Power Cooperative and other cooperatives along with investor-owned utilities - this was a predecessor to current day MISO.
1961
The Cooperative's headquarters building on North Broadway was expanded in 1961 to add a large meeting room and a drive-through window.
1962
The Cooperative's Board of Directors vote to provide water service in the form of underground lines, wells, and water towers in areas southeast of Rochester known as the Rose Harbor and Marvale subdivisions. This became known as the Cooperative Water System.
1966
Rochester's airport terminal building received wholesale power from People's Cooperative Power Association.
1966
Mid-America Interpool Network was created as a coordination network among several regional power pools in the Midwest, including UMVPP. It served as an umbrella organization for reliability and planning across interconnected utilities.
- Although rubber gloves were used as early as the 1930s, lineworkers begin wearing leather rubber glove protectors.
- New applications of radio technologies improve communications during emergencies and storm restoration.
- Power outages were reported by calling an ‘outage reporter’ and they would contact the Cooperative. It eliminated long-distance phone calls and helped prevent traffic jams on the rural telephone switchboards.
Timeline
1968
Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant built
1969
Richard Nixon becomes President of the United States
1969
U.S. astronauts (the first humans) land on the moon
1971
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) established
1973-1974
First OPEC / oil crisis quadruples the price of oil
1974
Gerald Ford becomes President of the United States
193
In 1966, the Cooperative built new service for 193 new members.
7 k +
There were approximately 7,500 members of the Cooperative in 1970.
1 k
The average kWh usage per meter per month was just over 1,000 kWh in 1970.
late 1960s
With the arrival of IBM in Rochester, there was a significant residential growth to the Northwest of Rochester in the mid-to-late 1960s. This had not yet been annexed by the City of Rochester, so it was the Cooperative's service territory.
1968
Pay stations were set up at area banks throughout the service territory to facilitate members paying their bills on time.
late 1960s
Rural electric cooperatives across the country were transitioning from "initial electrification" to capacity expansion and reliability upgrades.
1971
The Cooperative moved its headquarters building to a location on Highway 14 East in November of 1971. The property held special historical significance to the Cooperative as it was the site of the first farm electrified by People's.
1974
The Cooperative experienced significant cost increases in purchased power and supplies due to inflation, the recession, and legislative actions.
- Beginning in 1966, the Cooperative transferred all member sales records for capital credits to punched cards and magnetic tape. This opened the way to member accounts being stored on computers.
- During this decade, insulated bucket trucks with fall protection first came into use.
- Head protection made from thermoplastics gains widespread use.