Pedernales Electric Cooperative

Pedernales Electric Cooperative. . "Of all the things I have ever done, nothing has given me as much satisfaction as bringing power to the Hill Country of Texas." - Lyndon B. Johnson, In the 1930s, investor-owned utilities didn't consider it profitable to extend miles of electric line to sparsely populated regions. As a result, rural residents lived an old-fashioned, labor-intensive lifestyle. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to encourage the formation of rural electric cooperatives., After his election to U.S. Congress in 1937, Lyndon B. Johnson worked with representatives from Blanco, Burnet, Gillespie, Hays and Llano counties to incorporate "Pedernales Electric Cooperative" on May 19, 1938. Despite organizational efforts, PEC could not meet the population density required for an REA loan., Johnson was determined to honor a campaign promise to "bring the lights" to his beloved Hill Country. He obtained a private audience with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and successfully lobbied for a waiver. On September 27, 1938, PEC was granted a loan of about $1.3 million to extend 1,800 miles of line to nearly 3,000 families., The electrification of the Hill Country provided a backbone for opportunity in Central Texas, supporting the development of industries in what has become one of the fastest growing regions in America. Today, Pedernales Electric Cooperative is the largest distribution electric cooperative in the United States., Captions , Upper Left: LBJ, 1939 , Lower Left: E. Babe Smith, 1947 , Lower Right: PEC annual meeting, 1961