Company Profile

Columbia REA was formed in 1939 by local farmers who did not have electrical distribution service and who found it too expensive to hook up to the existing power distribution system.

Work to establish Columbia REA began on August 5, 1935 when the Farm Bureau Board appointed a committee to explore the possibility of providing electrical distribution service to rural areas. The seven member committee went from farm to farm and the numbers grew to seventy-two area farmers who became the Cooperative’s first members. The Cooperative was incorporated on January 23, 1939 and approved by the State of Washington on January 30, 1939.

At the first meeting of the Cooperative held on February 3, 1939 in Dayton, WA, Grace A. Mead was elected President and Donald G. Harris was elected Secretary/Treasurer. At that meeting, Board of Trustee member Hesper Archer was asked to go to Washington D.C. to request an $85,000 loan from the Rural Electrification Administration. With these funds the Cooperative built its first seventy-two miles of line to serve its original seventy-two members. The line was energized in 1940.

“The first day we had electrical service was the day we brought our new born daughter home from the hospital,” said Donald G. Harris, a member of the original board. “That was the day life began to get easier, being able to use electric appliances and to have light to work by. It’s hard to milk a cow in the dark. We did what we had to do at the time to get electrical service. I’m glad that the Cooperative is still here providing for the needs of its members.”

Columbia REA has changed since its formation. Our membership has become very diverse. The Cooperative continues to serve rural farm customers in addition to large irrigated agriculture and commercial accounts, and a growing number of urban and suburban residential accounts. Each member owns a portion of the Cooperative and all share in the benefits of cooperative ownership.

Columbia REA like all electric cooperatives in the United States was formed as a member-owned and locally managed, non-profit corporation. It continues today. From its original 72 members, Columbia REA has grown to serve over 4,400 accounts in 2008. Operating a distribution system of 1,200 wire miles, our service area now covers almost 2,000 square miles in Walla Walla, Columbia, and Umatilla Counties.