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Success Stories

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Man prepares to open electric box

USDA Funding Helps Mitigate Fire Risk for Electric Co-op Service Area

Many of us don’t often think about where the electricity comes from that powers the lights in our home and charges our cell phones. However, residents living in communities powered by Kit Carson Electric Cooperative Inc. can see where their power comes from. It is provided by… [Read More]
West River Electric Association crews use bucket trucks install power lines in South Dakota

Cooperatives keep the lights on in Rural Communities

West River Electric Association, based in Wall, S.D. has been delivering power to the counties of Haakon, Jackson, Meade, Pennington, Oglala Lakota, and Ziebach in South Dakota since 1939. Their focus has always been on their customers, who are also their members, and recent… [Read More]
PA Business Installs Solar Panel With REAP Funding

REAP Funding Helps Pennsylvania Business Go Solar

Three Rivers Farm helps bring fresh, locally grown produce to the marketplace in a sustainable way. Nathan Holmes is the owner and founder of the business and knew early on that he wanted to help local farmers while fueling economic development in his community. As a Pittsburgh… [Read More]
Alliant Service Teritory

Acquisition of Alliant Service Territories By 12 Rural Cooperatives

The RUS Electric Program provided financing to 10 of the 12 electric cooperatives involved in the acquisition of the Alliant service territory.  The Electric Program provided a total of nearly $125 million.  The total acquisition cost was about $127 million.  In an unprecedented… [Read More]
East Kentucky Power Cooperative generation map

East Kentucky Biomass Landfill Gas Project Expansion

In 2003, East Kentucky Power Cooperative became the first utility in Kentucky to generate its own renewable power when it began operating its first plant fueled by methane gas from landfills.  Today, East Kentucky has five landfill gas plants.  In 2015, RUS approved a loan which… [Read More]
Thermal image of a home

Energy Efficiency Loan – Vermont Energy Investment Corporation

The Vermont legislature created an Energy Efficiency Utility named Efficiency Vermont as a full-service utility providing those services to all ratepayers.  Under this structure, utility ratepayers can reduce their energy use by investing in energy improvements for their homes… [Read More]
Electric Transmission Line

Largest Transmission Line in North Dakota Serves 125,000 Consumers

Electricity provides us with many conveniences: flip a switch and the dark is light, hit a button and our television turns on, heat your home in the winter and cool it in the summer, cook your food on the stove or store it in the refrigerator. Electricity is needed to run heavy… [Read More]
Solar Panel array

North Carolina Leads in Solar Projects

The RUS Electric Program fosters sustainable and vibrant rural communities by investing in expanding and modernizing the electric infrastructure and revitalizing local economic development by unleashing the benefits of renewable resources and energy efficiency.  In FY 2015, the… [Read More]

RUS Electric Program Finances Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program Loans

  The RUS Electric Program recently established a loan program to help electric cooperatives reach out to consumers and businesses. In a News Release dated October 23, 2014, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA had funded its first two loans under the new Energy… [Read More]
R.C. Thomas Hydroelectric Station

RUS Electric Program Finances Hydroelectric Power

Hydroelectric power RUS Electric Program approved $73 million in loan funds to finance ETEC’s R. C. Thomas Hydroelectric Station (R.C. Thomas Station), formally known as the Lake Livingston Hydro-electric Station, located near the City of Lake Livingston in Polk County, Texas.… [Read More]