Vernon Electric Cooperative

VEC Historical Time-line

1936:		April 25 – Organizational Meeting – Directors elected were H. O. Melby, R. M. Grimsrud of Westby, Melvin E. Olson, C. V. Gorman, Otto G. Henry and Nick Dorschied of Viroqua, Ray Clark of Cashton, A. J. Ristow of Genoa and J. M. Hora of Hillsboro.
1937:		June – Office space rented in Westby-Coon Valley Bank Building (NW corner of Main St. & State St. ) – After first loan application approval by REA construction of lines was begun. July 6 – N. F. Leifer hired as Project Superintendent and Manager.
1938:		January 21 – Martin Schye, H. R. Vergeroot and Trygve Ostrem farms are the first to be connected to newly built energized power lines southwest of Westby.
1938:		First Home Economist in Wisconsin working for cooperative hired.
1946:		Farm Wiring Advisor hired.
1947:		Two-way base to truck radio communication started.
1957:		December 7 – New Westby Headquarters building dedicated.
1961:		N.F. Leifer and his wife, President H.O. Melby and Treasurer E.T. Smith killed in traffic accident enroute home from the NRECA Annual Meeting in Dallas, TX.
1961:		Earl Jaeger hired as Manager.
1966:		Garage/Warehouse building built for Hillsboro Service Area on the intersection of Hwy 82 & 33.
1969:		First primary high voltage lines placed underground.
1970:		May – Readstown Public Electric Utility purchased.
1987:		July 1 – Merle Holden hired as Manager.
1993:		Major flooding of the Mississippi puts many meters under water.
1998:		July 27 – Worst windstorm in VEC history knocks power out from Stoddard to Cashton. Linemen work for 4 ½ days to restore everyone’s power.
2001:		Mike McMahon hired as Manager to replace the retiring Merle Holden. The Mississippi River reaches 16.41 feet at La Crosse causing damage and outages along the river.
2003:		Installation of automated meter reading (AMR) begins and was completed in 2005.
2007:		August 18-19 & 21-24. Some of the worst flooding ever seen in service area. New record for August rainfall. Widespread outages, some lasting up to 3 ½ days due to wind, flooding, lightning, down trees, washed out underground lines. Restoration efforts hampered by washed out roads, down trees & flooding. Crews from Riverland Energy, Adams-Columbia, Oakdale, Scenic Rivers and Richland Electric Cooperatives aided in the recovery.
2009:		June 26th Vernon Electric Closes the doors at their Main St. office and out-buildings in Westby and moves to its new headquarters at the intersection of Hwy. 27 and Saugstad Rd.
2010:		Mike McMahon retires as General Manager on May 17th and is replaced by Joe McDonald on June 1st.

Stats in ten-year increments

Year	Miles of Lines	# of Members	kWh Used/ Member/Mo.	kWh Sold	Total Assets
1938	423	903	33	360,283	$532,696
1948	1160	3760	192	8,657,965	$1,461,925
1958	1455	4689	593	33,418,107	$2,834,201
1968	1597	5352	917	58,595,407	$8,503,877
1978	1809	7128	1377	116,200,240	$10,440,648
1988	1890	7847	1277	119,455,390	$17,531,493
1998	1943	8931	1157	122,611,558	$26,805,415
2008	2095	10,828	1127	146,168,395	$43,596,804

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