It's difficult to turn on the television or pick up a newspaper anymore without hearing or reading about some major corporate acquisition event.  As a matter of fact the business world today is somewhat akin to a food chain where the bigger and stronger players are always swallowing up their smaller and weaker competition.

Obviously there are a number of distinct corporate advantages in being large, including increased market share and profits, both of which are essential elements for survival in today's global economy.  Unfortunately what is good for the corporate world is not always best for local communities, many of which have been devastated by the triple punch of lost jobs, lost tax revenue and population migration.

The good news is there are still a number of locally owned businesses in our area that have been operating in Southern Illinois for decades and your Cooperative is one of them.

First founded in 1938 for the purpose of extending electric service into rural areas where there was none, your Cooperative has grown to be the largest in the State in the terms of energy distributed to its users, with annual sales expected to exceed 800,000,000 kilowatt-hours this year.  Those energy sales are significantly larger than any other cooperative operating in the State, and maximizing sales from our existing distribution system is one way of keeping our rates as competitive as possible.  Our success in this area is demonstrated by the fact that your Cooperative has the second lowest residential rate in the State, based on an average energy usage of 1000 kilowatt-hours per month.

Local ownership also means the majority of the dollars our members spend for electric energy stay here in Southern Illinois and serve to enhance the area economy.  Those dollars are spent with local merchants for fuel, tires, vehicles, gravel, hardware etc., as well as being used to hire other local area firms to assist the Cooperative with such items as tree removal and line construction projects, not to mention the continual maintenance required for the headquarters building in Eldorado and the District Operations Centers located in Franklin, Williamson and Pope Counties.

Local businesses also contribute to their communities by paying property and other local taxes and your Cooperative is no exception, paying well over $4,000,000 in Local, State and Federal taxes in 2004.

In short we're just one of a number of local Southern Illinois businesses that's "home grown and locally owned" and darn proud of it!

See you next month and as always, "We'll keep the lights on for you".