About

SDCEA has more than 13,000 consumer-members who mutually own this rural electric cooperative — that is you, our account holders. We’re headquartered in Buena Vista. In addition, a four-man crew, a staking engineer and a warehouse worker/custodian work out of our Westcliffe warehouse.

SDCEA is a rural electric cooperative that has been in business for more than 80 years.

  • Unlike an investor-owned utility, we are not-for-profit.
  • Rural electric cooperatives started when President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order in 1936 establishing the Rural Electrification Administration (REA).
  • With the help of REA financial and engineering resources rural people organized a network of electric cooperatives to build and operate electric utility systems in their own communities.
  • The for-profit investor-owned firms who electrified the cities chose not to serve rural Americans because they could not make a profit in the sparsely populated areas.
  • Rural electrification became one of the great success stories of the New Deal, and today, there are almost 1,000 rural electric cooperatives providing service to more than 40 million people in 47 states, serving 75% of the U.S. land mass.

What we are

  • A private, independent electric utility business
  • Owned by the consumers that we serve
  • Incorporated under the laws of Colorado
  • Not-for-profit
  • Governed by a board of directors that you elect from the membership

What we do to serve you: