February may be the shortest month of the year, but it’s packed with special observances like Teacher Appreciation Week, Presidents’ Day, African American History Month, and Valentine’s Day. During this month of expressing admiration, I can’t think of a better time to convey our devotion to our community and serving you, the members of the co-op.  

When we helped bring electricity to rural Indiana, the quality of life improved for all. That’s why we were formed in 1937 — to bring power to our local area when other utilities would not. Now, almost 85 years later, we are still here meeting the needs of our community to ensure it continues to thrive — because just like you, we live here too.

While our top priority is to provide safe, reliable, and affordable energy to you, equally important is our mission to enrich the lives of the consumer-members (that’s you) that we serve. This focus to benefit the larger community is central to the way we operate as a cooperative. Bartholomew County REMC knows that electricity is a critical need for 

modern-day life, but it takes more than poles and power lines to make a community.

Over time, our co-op has evolved to meet the changing needs of our community, thereby improving the quality of life for everyone. That has meant many different things. It means programs for area youth, such as education scholarships or the Indiana Youth Tour, where we take our community’s brightest young people to Washington, D.C., for a week-long immersion to experience democracy in action. We also send 7th graders-to-be to Camp Kilowatt each summer. It means organizing food and clothing drives and contributing more than $900,000 to the community through Operation Round Up, a program that helps local organizations. It also means partnering with organizations like the United Way, supporting their yearly campaign, for worthy programs offered in the community.

Over the last decade, our community-focused programs and other giving projects have improved area community parks, schools, fairs, and families and so much more — and we couldn’t do any of this without you, our members.