02 Jan Duck River EMC Celebrates 80 Years of Light in 2016
Can you imagine life without electricity? Sometimes it is easy to flip the light switch without thinking about the work that goes on behind the scenes. Duck River Electric Membership Corporation (DREMC) has been working behind the scenes to make the lights come on for 80 years.
Plans are underway to celebrate this remarkable milestone called “80 years of Light.” The DREMC 80th anniversary logo will be used throughout 2016 as we commemorate the past, celebrate the present and look to the future.
Anniversary banners to be used on our website and social media have been designed to showcase “DREMC Then & Now.” Each month a new banner will be featured. Also, fun facts about your local not-for-profit electric cooperative will be featured in The Tennessee Magazine.
Do you remember when the lights first came on? We are looking for DREMC members to feature in The Tennessee Magazine.
With the help of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), DREMC started to electrify the rural areas of southern Middle Tennessee in 1936.
By November of 1936, DREMC had 386 members and was purchasing power from the TVA. Eighty years later, the co-op still purchases wholesale power from TVA but provides electricity to more than 72,000 homes and businesses, making DREMC the fourth largest cooperative in the state of Tennessee.
“This is a celebration year,” says DREMC President and CEO Michael Watson. “We are looking forward to observing this milestone with our members in very special ways. Eighty years is a long lifetime for a business. Generations of co-op members have made this possible.”
Duck River EMC, a Touchstone Energy® cooperative, is a not-for-profit, member owned organization providing electric and other services to more than 72,000 homes and businesses in southern Middle Tennessee. Duck River EMC serves an area of approximately 2,500 square miles in Bedford, Coffee, Franklin, Giles, Grundy, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Maury, Moore, Rutherford, and Williamson counties in southern Middle Tennessee.