West Florida Electric Cooperative
| Company type | Nonprofit cooperative |
|---|---|
| Industry | Electric utility |
| Founded | 1937 |
| Founder | William Walter Henley (inaugural Board President) |
| Headquarters | Graceville , United States |
Area served | Northwest Florida (Jackson, Calhoun, Holmes, and Washington counties) |
Key people | William Walter Henley (inaugural Board President) |
| Products | Electricity distribution |
| Parent | PowerSouth Energy Cooperative (generation and transmission partner) |
| Website | www |
West Florida Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WFEC) operates as a nonprofit rural electric utility cooperative with its main office located in Graceville, Florida. It holds membership in the Florida Electric Cooperatives Association, the National Rural Electric Association, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, and is affiliated with the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives network.
History
The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to extend electrical services to rural regions lacking adequate access. WFEC was formed two years later, in 1937, and commenced electricity distribution in 1939 under the leadership of its inaugural Board President, William Walter Henley.
Over the decades, WFEC has grown its service capabilities. In 1977, it transformed Sportsman's Park in Graceville into a facility for storing utility poles. To better serve its expanding membership, district offices were established in Bonifay and Sneads during the late 1980s.
Operations
WFEC obtains its electricity supply from PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, previously known as Alabama Electric Cooperative, which functions as its generation and transmission (G&T) partner. WFEC is a co-owner of PowerSouth alongside fifteen other cooperatives and four municipal electric entities spanning Alabama and Northwest Florida. The cooperative became part of the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives branding alliance in 1998 to benefit from collective expertise and shared resources.
Presently, WFEC provides electrical service to more than 27,000 customers across sections of Jackson, Calhoun, Holmes, and Washington counties in Northwest Florida.
Other
In 2005, WFEC collaborated with the Cooperative Research Network and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative to conduct field evaluations on Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) technology, focusing on data throughput, coverage area, and practical implementation.
Starting in 2007, WFEC adopted automated meter reading (AMR) systems aimed at improving outage management, data accuracy, customer information delivery, early fault detection, and voltage level monitoring.
See also
- Electric cooperatives
- Touchstone Energy
- Wiregrass EC
- Automatic meter reading
- Broadband over power lines (BPL)
- BPL Deployments
External links
- West Florida Electric Cooperative
- Florida Electric Cooperatives Association
- Touchstone Energy
- National Rural Electric Association
- National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC)
- Powersouth Energy (formerly AEC)
- Our Energy, Our Future
- Historical Marker Database – "When The Lights Came On"