Although electricity is something people often take for granted in the present time, it was considered a luxury to most in the early 1900s, especially in rural communities. By 1921, only 10% of American rural homes had electricity. As electricity became more common and essential to business competition, the demand for this utility increased nationwide.

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), which guaranteed Americans access to reliable electricity and allowed rural communities to form electric cooperatives. By 1945, 90% of American rural homes had electricity.

Electric Cooperatives are private, not-for-profit utilities owned by their consumers and operated as a business. Each cooperative consumer/owner, called a “member”, owns an equal share in the business, regardless of their connection type or how much electricity they consume.

Cooperative Members have an opportunity to contribute to the democratically structured business in exchange for their regular bill payment. All revenue produced by a cooperative is reinvested back into the community, and Members decide how that money is spent.

Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Inc. was founded in 1984 with the purpose of providing low cost, reliable electric service for its rural distribution Cooperative Members.

Our Members are not individual consumers, but rather 16 electric cooperatives within the states of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Colorado. Golden Spread is a generation and transmission (G&T) electric cooperative. This means we generate electricity for and transmit electricity to our Member Cooperatives, who then distribute it to their members for end-user consumption.

Golden Spread owns and generates electricity through two gas-fueled power plant facilities and a wind turbine ranch, all located within the Texas panhandle.

Golden Spread’s primary office is in Amarillo, TX, with a smaller secondary office in Lubbock, TX.