JPEC

Member Service at Your Fingertips

History of Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative

On May 11, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Rural Electrification Administration. Just over a year later, he signed the Rural Electrification Act, which cleared the way for the United States Department of Agriculture to work with local farmers and ranchers to bring electricity to their communities.The year of Jackson Purchase Energy's incorporation was 1937, the time of the Great Flood, when the Ohio River and its major Kentucky tributaries wreaked devastation and inundated Paducah. Estimated damage: a quarter of a billion dollars.The floodwaters subsided in February, and in June Jackson Purchase Rural Electric was incorporated.As of March 8, 1940, Jackson Purchase REA had three hundred and twenty-two miles of line with one hundred and thirty-two more under construction or proposed and membership of about one thousand two hundred.As of August 2019, JPEC has 2,970 miles of line and 30,027 Consumer-Members billed. We are very proud to celebrate more than 80 years as a cooperative. It is a tribute to the many men and women who contributed to our conception and development and to those who continue the operation of providing reliable and cost-effective electric service to the rural residents of western Kentucky.