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It is interesting to look back at how electricity was first developed and used.

Early on, electric systems had their highest loads in the middle of the night. Electric light replaced kerosene lamps. People today still say they must pay their light bill when, in fact, lighting represents less than 5% of electric demand in the home.

For our area, which covers more than 1.2 million people across Alabama and northwest Florida, home power use is now heavily driven by heating, air conditioning, and water heating. And that’s not the only thing that has changed. Interestingly, a new category of power use has also been growing since 2012, called “Miscellaneous Plug.” This covers phones, tablets, computers and a host of other appliances.

On the front end of electricity’s history were the early technical pioneers, like Thomas Edison, who started by developing a simple light bulb. They debated whether alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) should become the standard and eventually settled on 60 hertz (Hz) AC. Standard voltages for home use settled at 120/240 volts. Electric systems and home wiring became standardized. Appliance specifications were also standardized, allowing mass production.

The result was moving from a primitive form of life — wood-burning stoves, fire boxes, and oil-based lamps — to the cleaner, safer, and healthier alternative of electricity. Next came the business aspects of distributing electric power. The more densely populated cities got the first shot at this new technology because profitability was easier to achieve, while rural communities were bypassed because of costs. In the 1900s, as electricity began to be generated and sold as a service, powering rural areas was not a profitable endeavor.  Our former General Manager, Charles Lowman, reflected on rural life in those days. “By 1935, only 4% of farms in Alabama had electricity,” he said. “The other 96% had no electric lights, no refrigerators, and no running water. Outdoor privies were fixtures behind every house. Housewives cooked on wood-burning stoves and labored through long hard washdays using rubboards and washtubs.”

Enter the electric cooperative business pioneers that brought a better life, powered by electricity, to rural people.

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was the catalyst that allowed rural cooperatives to form and electrify the countryside, providing financing and engineering support, among other resources.  The proliferation of rural Electric Cooperatives began in earnest in the early 1940s. These were grassroots organizations, enabled by the REA, formed by people in the communities they would serve, to bring light to rural America.

At times, I wonder about the purpose-driven character and determination of those early rural pioneers. They united to create a business to bring this new energy source to the masses. Their goal was to balance the scale of electric availability and to improve the rural way of life.

But, it’s not like these folks didn’t already have plenty to do. Many were farmers, bankers, sawmill operators, even drug store owners. They came from all walks of life and banded together cooperatively to accomplish what could not be done alone. They took the cost of the system needed to serve all of them and split the cost equally whether a member was one mile or fifteen miles away. They shared the cost of assembling a workforce. They borrowed money through the REA to finance the building of their systems, and they agreed not to make a profit for themselves, but to serve electricity at cost.

Throughout my life I have seen many extraordinary technical advancements come to pass — from the party line phone we had when I was a kid to the cell phones that allow us to FaceTime with our children on the other end of the state in real time; or from a rack of World Book encyclopedias to Artificial Intelligence, like ChatGPT, that makes me an instant Einstein. Even so, in all this time, no substitute for electricity has arisen. It has always been a 120-volt, 60Hz commodity that has marked time and enabled great advancements.

It all started with a little light. We even say today, when someone has an idea, that a light bulb went off in their head. It took a great deal of technical innovation, business savvy, and old-fashioned effort to bring about this little light, and that little light has kindled a much larger and lasting flame.

Inside each of us dwells a little light, as well. Let your light shine so others can find their way. Shine brightly. Someone needs your light today. 

Until next month …..May the Lord bless you real good.