A cooperative exists solely for the benefit of its members and the community it serves; not to make money for corporate stockholders. Your cooperative takes this responsibility seriously, and every other year the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives (AIEC) mails thousands of surveys on behalf of all 25 Illinois distribution co-ops. Responses from these surveys [...]

As a former mayor and legislator who represented both rural and urban parts of east central Illinois that depend upon a robust agricultural economy, I’ve always understood that Illinois is an agrarian state.  So, when Governor Quinn appointed me as director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, I was humbled by the opportunity to serve [...]

We’ve just come out of the spring primary election season and there are two things that are very obvious. Following the census, redistricting has dramatically changed state and Congressional legislative districts, which means there are new candidates on your ballot that you really don’t know. Secondly, fewer people are exercising their right to vote. Every [...]

Every year my husband Perry and I garden at my family’s home in Makanda, a town of less than 500 people in southern Illinois. Our garden is small, but we enjoy it in a big way. This spring, we intend to plant sweet corn, tomatoes, potatoes and a variety of herbs. We also have the [...]

There are many things that we depend on in our daily lives but take for granted without realizing their true value and importance. One such thing is the energy source for all of our electrical needs. When we flip on the light switch we expect — and take for granted — that the light will [...]

Any new industry comes with a broad knowledge base to learn and new industry jargon to understand — and wind energy is especially challenging. This is where the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs’ (IIRA) wind energy program plays a vital role in Illinois. IIRA seeks to improve the quality of life for rural residents by [...]

Readers of these pages in recent months perhaps have read about (maybe even participated in) one of the E programs … HomE, FarmE and RenewE. These programs demonstrate first hand how we put co-op members first. More than 3,400 electric co-op members across Illinois know all about HomE. Through this program, they received energy assessments [...]