General Information

What is a Cooperative?
Rights and Privileges of Members (Customers)
Annual Meeting

What is a Cooperative?

A cooperative is a business owned by its customers, known as members. Anyone who receives power from South Central Indiana REMC is part owner of the business. SCI REMC is one of 39 rural electric cooperatives in Indiana. Electric cooperatives were organized throughout the state in the 1930’s. At this time, investor-owned utilities were supplying power in urban areas, but would not supply electric power to rural customers. This was common across the country at this time in history. People living in rural areas saw that those in cities had electricity and wanted it as well. As a result, with loans from the Rural Electrification Administration, rural communities banded together and created electric cooperatives.

Anyone receiving electric service from SCI is a member. Service territories are designated by the state. South Central Indiana REMC serves more than 33,000 members in seven counties; Morgan, Monroe, Brown, Owen, Putnam, Johnson and Clay.

SCI REMC is a member-owned cooperative and is a non-profit business. Like other types of cooperatives, SCI operates under a set of bylaws. As a member-owned cooperative, there are guiding principles SCI follows. These include open membership with no political or religious discrimination; democratic control on a one-member, one-vote basis; return of net earnings to members proportionally to their patronage (capital credits); education of members; and cooperation with other cooperatives.

Rights and Privileges of Members (Customers)

As a member of the REMC, your primary right is the ability to elect a Board of Directors that will serve the needs of the membership. Each year, the cooperative holds an Annual Meeting. It is at this meeting that a third of the board is elected each year. It is your right and responsibility to come to the meeting and help elect the board. They represent your best interests. Each member of the cooperative has one vote and that one vote should be utilized so that your interests are taken into consideration.

As a member of SCI you receive capital credits. The “cash back” capital credit returns to members represent a share of previous years’ profits. Members who purchased electricity from SCI during designated years receive a credit on their electric account. To date, SCI REMC has returned more than $4 million to their members in the form of capital credits.

Annual Meeting

According to our bylaws, South Central Indiana REMC is required to have an Annual Meeting of members in order to conduct the business of the cooperative and elect members to the Board of Directors. It is very important that you, as a member, come to the Annual Meeting and take part in the business of the cooperative.

South Central Indiana REMC holds its Annual Meeting in the fall of each year and is planned with you in mind. In addition to the business portion of the meeting, the REMC will have information booths set up so that you can ask questions about the various programs offered at the REMC and take advantage of any specials on heating and cooling equipment or water heaters. It is a chance for you to meet the director in your district and meet the cooperative employees that serve you.

This year's Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, September 15, 2007, at the Mooresville High School Gymnasium.

2006 Annual Meeting Video

Click on the link below to view a 16 minute video about South Central Indiana REMC. The video will play through streaming video technology, so it does not need to download to your computer.

This video can be viewed through Windows Media Player. If you are viewing from the Mac OSX operating system, click here to download Windows Media Player for Mac operating systems.

Special thanks to the staff at Hoosier Energy for preparing our video for us this year.