SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative , Inc., is an electric power distribution system owned and controlled by its members. As a cooperatively owned private enterprise business, it operates on a not-for-profit basis and must have sufficient returns to make principal and interest payments on loans and to maintain the system in the proper condition to assure dependable service. All revenues, over and above the cost of doing business each year, are allocated to the members under a "capital credit" plan. 

Organized in 1938 for the purpose of making electricity available to rural areas, SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative has grown steadily and now serves over 23,000 accounts through some 3,500 miles of power line. Because the Cooperative is locally owned by its members, each member has an equal voice in conducting business at an annual meeting. 
 

Every August an annual meeting is held to inform member-owners about the basic operating and financial conditions of their Cooperative.   In addition to the election of Trustees and business meeting, entertainment is scheduled and prizes are awarded. All members are urged to attend the Annual Meeting of the business they own. 

Each month the Illinois Country Living magazine is sent to members.  This magazine also contains SouthEastern's own publication, "The SouthEastern Light". Compiled by SouthEastern's employees, this monthly update keeps members informed of community, state, and national developments concerning rural electrification. 

Purchasing quality products and services at the lowest possible price provides a great deal of satisfaction to most of us.  In a not-for-profit cooperative system, such as SouthEastern, all margins earned annually that are over and above the actual cost of providing service during that respective year, are proportionally credited to members based on their energy usage for the period.  Those margins are periodically returned as "Capital Credits" to the membership, when such returns are deemed financially prudent by the Board of Trustees.  Such refunds result in lower energy cost for the members and satisfaction in knowing they purchased their energy at "invoice cost".  To date your Cooperative has returned approximately $8,000,000 to its member-owners, providing a healthy infusion of cash to the ten-county service area served by SouthEastern. 

SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative's wholesale power supplier is Southern Illinois Power Cooperative. Located on Lake of Egypt, nine miles south of Marion, Illinois, SIPC is owned and controlled by its six member distribution cooperatives: 

SouthEastern's Board of Trustees consists of eleven Trustees who must permanently reside within one of the Cooperative's eleven Districts.  It is the Board's responsibility to establish the policies that govern how your Cooperative will be operated; however, the General Manager, who is the Board's only employee, is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Cooperative, including the hiring of all other SouthEastern employees.  Each Trustee is elected for a 3-year term and three to four Trustees are eligible for re-election at each Annual Meeting.  Prior to its August Annual Meeting, the Cooperative's Board of Trustees is responsible for appointing a Nominating Committee consisting of between 5 and 11 members who then nominate candidates for expiring terms.  At least twenty days prior to the Annual Meeting, the Nominating Committee Chairman will post a list of nominations for Trustees to be elected, listing them separately by District.  In addition, the Cooperative's Bylaws provide for nomination by petition process prior to the Annual Meeting as well as nominations from the floor during the Annual Meeting.