Glades Electric Co-Operative Inc

In the early 1940s, investor-owned utilities were unable to make the investments to expand their systems into the rural areas of Florida’s Heartland to bring power to sparsely populated areas. The signing of the Rural Electrification Act in 1936 allowed residents to come together to build their own electric utility with the help of federal loans. In the fall of 1944, local residents banded together to form an electric cooperative to serve residents of Florida’s Heartland who had been left behind in the electrification of rural Florida. Neighbors went to neighbors to gather membership applications, and on January 25, 1945 they gathered on the steps of the courthouse in Moore Haven to officially form Glades Electric Cooperative.

Today, Glades Electric Cooperative provides safe, reliable, affordable power to over 17,000 accounts throughout portions of Florida's Heartland in Highlands, Okeechobee, Glades and Hendry Counties. Still, Glades Electric serves more sparsely populated areas than neighboring investor-owned utilities (IOU), averaging seven meters per mile of service line as compared to 51-78 meters per mile of line for nearby IOUs.

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