Mission
Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association (ORECA) represents and promotes the interests of electric cooperatives and their members.
Purpose
Supporting Oregon’s electric cooperatives as they provide renewable, safe, and reliable power to Oregonians across the state.
How Electric Cooperatives Energized Rural America
A cooperative is an enterprise owned by its members, whose purpose is to provide goods, services, and other benefits to its member-owners. Because the people who purchase the electric cooperative’s power vote for and elect the cooperative’s board of directors, it is an inherently democratic organization, where people have a voice in its direction.
1844
Cooperative principles established in Rochdale, England.
1909
Country Life Commission recommends creation of electric cooperatives to power rural areas.
1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the federal Rural Electrification Administration by executive order.
1936
2,000 miles of electric lines under construction by electric co-ops.
1937
53,000 total miles of cooperative lines constructed.
1940
180,000 miles of rural lines built, with another 80,000 underway.
1941
1,000,000 farms have power.
1942
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) formed to represent cooperative interests nationally. The Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association (ORECA) formed to represent Oregon co-ops at the state and national level.
1943
ORECA holds its first annual meeting on March 16 at the Marion Hotel in Salem.
1950
Willie Wiredhand, a mascot for electric cooperatives, debuts. He was named after the hired hand electricity gave to farmers.
1962
Electric cooperatives serve 5,000,000 Americans. NRECA joins U.S. Agency for International Development to bring electricity to developing nations.
1994
REA renamed Rural Utilities Service.
2009
NRECA/USAID partnership connects more than 100,000,000 people to electricity in 42 nations.
2010
75 years after the creation of REA, more than 900 cooperatives in 47 states serve 17,000,000 homes and businesses.
The 7 Cooperative Principles
As Consumer-Owned Utilities, electric cooperatives play a unique role in the communities we serve. All 18 electric cooperatives are guided by the following seven Cooperative Principles.
These principles serve as the bedrock of everything we do, and often lead us to be much more than simply suppliers of electricity to end users.
1
Open & Voluntary Membership
2
Democratic Member Control
3
Members’ Economic Participation
4
Autonomy & Independence
5
Education, Training, & Information
6
Cooperation Among Cooperatives
7
Concern for Community