About Us

History of Oconee EMC                                                                            Page 1                                 Page 2

Sixty Eight years ago there was no electricity available to the rural residents of Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Dodge, Laurens, Twiggs, and Wilkinson Counties. Life on the farm was hard and the nights were dark.

After the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 by an Executive Order of Franklin D. Roosevelt, wheels were put in motion to bring electricity to this area. A Vocational Agricultural teacher with the Dudley Consolidated Schools, Doyle Bedingfield, along with many interested citizens including T.C. Bobbitt, D.O. Lord, Rubert Hogan, and Warthen Chappell donated much time and effort to his project. They felt it would mean a great deal to every other man, woman, and child in this area to receive electric energy. The only thing these men expected out of this organization was electricity for their homes and families.

On November 18, 1938, Oconee EMC was incorporated with J.L. Allen, M.B. Beall, Paul J. Jones, Joseph R. Lord, T. C. Waldrep, Jimmy L. Whitaker and George Ingram named as Directors of the Corporation.

These men held their first Board of Directors meeting on November 22, 1938 and elected the following officers: J.L. Allen as President, T.C. Waldrep as Vice President, Joseph R. Lord as Treasurer and Paul J. Jones as Secretary.

Before the project would be considered feasible by REA in Washington, the Corporation had to secure 363 members over a range of 135 miles and guarantee revenue of $1,034.00. Interested citizens volunteered to take the lead in their community and work the entire section to solicit members and ask for guaranteed revenue. Jim Henry Montford, Jimmy Nelson, Jack Hobbs, Drew Horne, T.D. Bailey, Bill Tyson, Tom Pritchett, J.A. Butler, and T.D. Yancey worked with the original organizers and Directors to meet the REA requirements.

During the first year of this organization, several changes took place. Frank Y. Soles was elected to the Board of Directors replacing T.C. Waldrep. The Board hired Doyle Bedingfield as Coordinator of the project and Carl K. Nelson was named attorney for the Corporation. The first REA loan of $200,000.00 was approved in the summer of 1933. G.C. Ingram resigned form the Board of Directors to become Project Superintendent and a full-time employee of the Corporation. The Board named E.B. Dominy to replace Ingram as Director.

On October 12, 1933, bids from 15 contractors were received and opened. The low bid was awarded to Miller-Baxter Company, Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana for the building of the first project. On October 16, 1939, negotiations were held with the Bank of Dudley on plans, lease and rental for a new building to be the permanent office for the Corporation. In addition, a stenographer-booker was hired. The Engineering firm of McCrary Company started to survey the right-of-way late in October. In November of that year, actual construction of power lines got underway.