Less than one percent of the rural area of Mississippi had electricity in 1935 when the Rural Electrification Act was passed as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) then began providing low-interest federal loans to cooperatives organized to furnish electricity to rural areas that were unprofitable for investor-owned power companies to serve.
One of those cooperatives, Magnolia Electric Power Association, was formed in this area in 1938 and began operation in 1939 with G.H. Alford as its general manager.
Darrell Smith, the present general manager who has led the cooperative for the past 11 years, traced the history of both the REA and MEPA in a program at the McComb Rotary Club Wednesday.
Eighty-five percent of the land mass in Mississippi is served by electric co-ops like MEPA, Smith said.
He also said the federal government has made money on the loans to build the rural systems, stressing that they were not grants.
MEPA distributes electricity in parts of Amite, Franklin, Lincoln, Pike, Walthall and Lawrence counties.
Smith said it has a staff of 90 with 4,607 miles of line and more than 30,500 meters. Half of its customers — or members — are residential.
MEPA headquarters are on Highway 98 east of McComb, but land has been purchased for a new location on Highway 98 West.
The cooperative is non-profit, with earnings credit being distributed to members. Last year that amounted to $1.8 million, Smith said.
