Our Beginning
Since 1944, the West Oregon Electric Cooperative (WOEC) has been bringing power to the people in our communities who needed electricity for the homes and businesses that meant their very livelihood.
Today, we proudly still continue to build new lines to a growing membership while working to provide a practical and reliable system at the lowest cost possible.
The Cooperative Difference
WOEC, like all co-ops, is a private, not-for-profit organization that is owned and operated by our members, the very people in our communities that share our electric utility services.
- As a co-op, we operate democratically.
- Members are able to vote for the 7 local board positions that oversee the WOEC.
Committed to Our Communities
The WOEC logo is now the friendly face of Willie Wirehand (© NRECA), a rural electric co-op mascot for over 6 decades, because we believe he is a symbol of unity and our commitment to standing up for our communities and demanding fairness, especially against the odds.
What’s New?
Whenever energy advances and as technology evolves, we’ll feature up-to-date energy news on how it will affect our community and our members.
On this website, you’ll find:
Resources for renewable power (Green Energy)
Access to the most current news magazine from industry leader, Ruralite.
All you need is look at Willie, with his light-socket head, wire frame body, and electrical plug for his bottom and legs to see that, although like the WOEC, he is small, he is powered by doing what’s right for the people.
To learn the history of this faithful figure, visit Willie Wiredhand.
History
Before Electric Cooperatives
In the 1920s and 1930s, before the first electric cooperative was established, this country was in the midst of the Great Depression.
Electricity was a luxury that most rural people simply could not afford.
90% of America’s rural areas lived in darkness come nightfall.
Private power companies of the day basically would not pay the money needed to bring the rural and less populated areas electricity.
It was common that only the wealthiest farmers and ranchers, or the people closest to a large town, could get electricity at all.
Federal Action
Thankfully, in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to get electricity to rural Americans.
The REA program offered low-interest federal loans to power companies willing to deliver electricity to rural communities.
However, most private power companies would not take advantage of the loans offered by the federal government.
Rural communities began to organize cooperatively to get electricity.
For the first time in history, people on farms and in small communities joined forces to route electricity to their homes and businesses.
The Beginning of the Electrification of America!
As a result, in 1936, Congress acted to remove rural areas from the “Dark Ages” by creating the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), formerly the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), and offering the low-interest federal loans directly to the rural people.
West Oregon Electric’s Founding
The history of West Oregon Electric is 1 of the finest examples of the cooperative spirit; the spirit of determination.
The West Oregon Electric Cooperative was formed on March 9, 1944, with a meeting of 7 men in Vernonia’s Bush Hall
With the money from RUS loans, the 7 men combined several small electric cooperatives in the Nehalem Valley and Timber areas.
They also purchased the Oregon Gas & Electric Company that served the Vernonia area and even bought facilities from the Clatskanie People’s Utility District (PUD).
The new cooperative started clearing trees and brush, placing new poles, and stringing wire to the isolated towns and valleys of northwest Oregon. Farmers and homeowners helped dig holes and cut trees so they too could receive electricity, and soon electric lines ran through the fields and forests.
Then & Now
West Oregon Electric Cooperative was formed to meet the needs of the people in our communities, and we continue to build new lines to growing membership.
Although the electric needs of our members have changed dramatically since the 1940s, we will continue to meet the challenges of a 21st-century membership, while providing a resourceful and reliable system at the lowest possible cost.
Service Territory
WOEC service territory covers parts of 5 counties and is spread out over 1,224 square miles of rugged terrain with millions of trees and gravel roads.
The 7 Cooperative Principles
Voluntary & Open Membership
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to anyone that is able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of the cooperative membership, without gender, social, racial, political, or religious discrimination.
Democratic Member Control
Cooperatives are democratic organizations that are owned by their members. The elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives, members have equal voting rights (1 member, 1 vote), and cooperatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.
Members’ Economic Participation
Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. Usually, at least part of that capital is the common property of the cooperative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which would be undividible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
Autonomy & Independence
Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.
Education, Training, & Information
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation.
Cooperation Among Cooperatives
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional, and international structures.
Concern for Community
While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.