Decades of innovation

2026 marks 90 years of service—that’s nine decades—for your cooperative.

As we celebrate this important milestone, we thought about how far both we and our members have come.

Our ancestors would be utterly speechless at what they’d experience if they lived today. We’ve come from:

… a dim light of an actual flame fueled by wood or kerosene to the brilliant light of a diode powered from a distant, invisible energy source.

… maybe a book or two on the shelf to the ability to know almost anything we want by tapping a few keystrokes on the screen in our pocket.

… word-of-mouth spoken by a neighbor to instantly communicating with one or millions of people anywhere in the world by countless methods—and even seeing them while we talk.

… freezing in the winter and sweltering in the summer to the perfect temperature and humidity 24 hours a day.

… days filled with hard work and drudgery just to survive to hours of free time to spend as we please.

And none of these innovations would have been possible without electric power.

Over the next year, we’ll trace these innovations decade by decade. We’ll also highlight some of the innovations your co-op pioneered that made getting that electric power to you more efficient, safe and convenient.

Join us in the Realite every month during 2026 for this powerful journey. You’ll be amazed by how far we’ve all come, too.