citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message wiregrass electric cooperative founded 1939 type cooperative federation location hartford al area served wiregrass region members over 27 000 owner member owned key people les moreland ceo employees 65 website wiregrass.coop wiregrass electric cooperative is a not for profit rural electric utility cooperative headquartered in hartford alabama . it is a member of the alabama rural electric association of cooperatives area 1 and the national rural electric cooperative association . contents 1 history 2 organization 3 power companies in alabama 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit wiregrass electric cooperative a powersouth cooperative was organized in october 1939 and began distribution in 1940 . taking its name from the wiregrass region which it serves it was created to serve rural customers not serviced by the large power companies . the system is made up of around 3 200 miles 2 of line and more than 27 000 consumer member homes and businesses . howard haygood was the first manager of the cooperative . he served until 1958 . subsequent leadership was as follows b.l woodham general manager 1953 1968 bruce dyess general manager 1969 1985 jerry mosley general manager 1985 2005 michael mcwaters ceo 2005 2013 les moreland ceo 2014 present organization edit at wiregrass electric cooperative the consumer member is the basis of the organization . each person receiving electric service must be a member of the cooperative . annual membership meetings are held where members receive reports on the operation of the system and elect trustees to handle the affairs of the organization . nine members compose the board of trustees at wiregrass electric cooperative . these people must be members of the cooperative to be eligible to serve . the service area is divided into 9 districts and the elected trustee must reside within the district he or she is to represent . these trustees as a board decide the policies under which the cooperative must operate . the board is responsible for the hiring of a chief executive officer . this ceo reports to and is directly responsible to the board of trustees . he must operate the system within the framework of policies set forth by the board . the chief executive officer of wiregrass electric cooperative known as the ceo he hires and directs all of the employees of the local cooperative . employees report to their department heads who report to senior staff members who in turn report to the ceo . the cooperative s service area covers most of the rural areas of houston and geneva counties . the cooperative also serves portions of dale coffee and covington counties . the main office of the cooperative is located on highway 167 in hartford . all records are kept at this location . in addition to the headquarters the cooperative operates customer service centers in ashford dothan and samson . these offices are full service locations where members can pay bills apply for service report problems with their account or conduct any other routine business that is normally handled by the main office . since the cost of wholesale power is the biggest portion of its expenditures wiregrass electric cooperative diligently looks for ways to reduce power expenses . through a power supply pooling arrangement powersouth the power supplier owned by wec and 21 other member systems in central and south alabama and the florida panhandle initiated a power supply plan that could reduce wholesale power expenses and ensure the future stability of rates . under this arrangement powersouth will be responsible for supplying the electricity which will continue to be delivered over alabama power company s transmission system power companies in alabama edit there are 22 rural electric cooperatives that distribute electricity in alabama . all of these are organized locally as separate cooperatives with their own membership boards of trustees management and employees . policies rates and provisions of service differ among each cooperative . nineteen of these 22 distribution co ops and the one g & t co op have banded together to organize the alabama rural electric association of cooperatives area . this is more commonly referred to as the statewide association . as an association area is funded by the member cooperatives through a dues structure . the statewide association or area is controlled by a board of directors . the board is composed of the manager and one trustee from each of the member cooperatives . the board employs the manager or ceo who in turn hires and directs other employees . this association also performs various services for the member cooperatives . it works closely with the legislature and other state agencies on matters that affect all co ops in alabama . it produces the alabama living magazine mailed to all rural electric consumer members . it also operates a print shop for custom printing required by its member co ops . there are more than 1 million rural electric consumers in alabama . these consumers use approximately 1 200 kilowatt hours per month . there are approximately 6.5 consumers per mile of line on alabama cooperatives . currently wiregrass system is made up of more the 3 074 miles of lines and serves more than 27 000 members in portions of five counties including houston geneva dale coffee and covington . 3 see also edit west florida electric cooperative references edit alabama s electric co ops . alabama rural electric association of cooperatives . 2008 . retrieved 2007 06 17 . http www.dothaneagle.com news government grove park resident wants city electric service in west dothan article 6f656222 3a1c 11e5 b232 471e545cf02e.html our cooperative . wiregrass electric cooperative inc. 2010 . retrieved 22 march 2011 . external links edit wiregrass electric cooperative powersouth energy cooperative gulf coast electric cooperative west florida electric cooperative alabama rural electric association of cooperatives area national rural electric cooperative association nreca v t e cooperatives and mutual organizations types of cooperative by governance consumer cooperative federation list cooperative wholesale society worker list employee ownership workers self management workers control workplace democracy business and employment co operative purchasing retailers cooperative other social cooperative agent owned company by purpose banking credit union mutual savings bank savings and loan association building society housing building cohousing student housing housing society egalitarian intentional community agricultural collective farming reforestation winemaking wheat pool utility list community wind energy electric telephone mutual education anarchistic free school homeschool democratic education learning by teaching mutual insurance health insurance cooperative other food list recycling topics identity rochdale principles ica statement on the cooperative identity political and economic theories co operative economics cooperative federalism distributism economic democracy mutualism neo capitalism owenism social enterprise socialism socially responsible investing solidarity economy key theorists g. d. h. cole charles gide david griffiths william king robert owen friedrich raiffeisen david schweickart rochdale pioneers beatrice webb by region canada ukraine united kingdom united states organizations list of cooperatives worker energy federations international co operative alliance co operative party history of the cooperative movement . coop this alabama related article is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wiregrass electric cooperative & oldid 739587243 categories companies based in alabamaelectric cooperatives in 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