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Long-time readers know I grew up in Corinth, Mississippi, in Alcorn County, in the red clay hills of northeast Mississippi. It was and is Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) country, about 20 miles from Pickwick Dam, one of TVA’s large series of dams on the Tennessee River. With that location, Alcorn County Electric Power Association (known to all of us as “ACE”) was created by the Roosevelt Administration in 1934 as the first electric cooperative and a test case for the rural electric cooperative model which would become known as the Rural Electric Administration or, to most everyone, the REA. Because ACE was headquartered in Corinth, it was often called “The Corinth Experiment.”

  Poor people paid their power bill in person to save the 2-cent stamp. I would ride with my mom to the ACE office to pay the power bill. One of my dad’s friends, Red Wheeler, worked at ACE, but other than that I had no idea what a cooperative was, that ACE was one, or what ACE did.

Mom provided life direction for my younger brother, Bob, and me. She wanted us to be better and demanded that we go to college. We followed her instruction and received the first college degrees in our family.  

After college, I went to law school, practiced law, and later worked in the aircraft maintenance industry. Changing careers again, I was hired to run the Legal Department at Alabama Electric Cooperative, which is now PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, in Andalusia.

In reading information about electric cooperatives, I came across The Corinth Experiment and ACE’s history as the first electric cooperative. I called mom and asked her if she knew that ACE was an electric cooperative. She answered that she did and, also, that I knew most of the Board Members: J.B., Bruce, Bobby Roberts, and Fred Tull. J.B. Darnell and mom worked together for years at Pittman Brothers Propane before he started selling insurance. Bruce Dillingham was one of my high school coaches and a good friend. Bobby Roberts was the older brother of one of my best friends, and Fred Tull was a year behind me in high school.  

Little did I know while growing up on ACE power that electric cooperatives would become the central fixture in my life. PowerSouth has been a wonderful home for me for almost 37 years. We have seen many challenges and successes together. There are many directions I could have gone, many paths I could have taken. I am so thankful that God shoved me through the door into PowerSouth. It has been the correct path for me.

The path leads uphill and we haven’t seen the crest yet. Things are changing. The next decade will be an exciting time in the electric industry.

Our distribution membership expanded in 2026 with the addition of Black Warrior Electric Membership Cooperative and Tombigbee Electric Cooperative. Our members now provide retail service from Marion County in northwest Alabama to Gulf County, Florida, southeast of Panama City.

There is organic and measured growth across much of our service territory – new houses, new subdivisions, and new stores. Slow growth is steady and sound. Commercial and industrial growth is also beneficial. They can be managed but need to be targeted for the maximum benefit for our communities and the people who live and work there.

Other areas of the country are experiencing exponential growth. We have great people at PowerSouth who work with our distribution systems and local economic development officials to ensure larger growth is planned and done right.

As a not-for-profit cooperative, it is our job to build and maintain the assets needed to support community growth and prosperity. At present, we have little excess generating capacity, and little is available on the market. To provide for growing electric demand, PowerSouth is building a new power plant that will produce electricity during times of high usage. PowerSouth’s primary objective is to keep your power on at the most affordable cost possible. Electricity must be both reliable and affordable.  

PowerSouth’s service improves each year, and we are highly competitive with other utilities in the region. We continue to emphasize infrastructure improvement and safety. Zero injuries is our goal.  

As I approach retirement, I appreciate the unity of our members and their interest in working together and staying together. I am amazed at all of our business and community partners that work with the common goal of improving the lifestyle in communities our members serve so our young people will want to stay, work, and raise their families.

As I remember those trips with my mom to the ACE office all those years ago, I marvel at how much things have changed. However, the electric cooperative model started in my hometown continues to be successful, and I am confident it will continue to be successful into the future.

The Corinth Experiment worked well. I’ve been sort of a Corinth Experiment myself.