Investment to Benefit More Than 965,000 Rural Residents and Businesses
COLUMBIA, MO, Oct. 26, 2020 – The Trump Administration, along with Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director for Missouri Jeff Case, today announced that the USDA is investing $81,613,000 to build and improve critical electric infrastructure. The funding, made possible through the Electric Loan Program, will benefit more than 965,000 rural residents and commercial customers in Missouri, Iowa, and Oklahoma.
“Modern and reliable electric infrastructure has been a cornerstone to rural prosperity since the Rural Electrification Act of 1936,” said Trump Administration Official USDA Rural Development Missouri State Director Jeff Case. “And for more than 80 years, USDA has partnered with electric cooperatives, like West Central, Southwest, and Associated, to ensure their systems have the modern infrastructure necessary to provide affordable, reliable electricity to their members. Under the leadership of President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Perdue, USDA has been working tirelessly to be a strong partner to rural Missouri in building stronger and healthier communities, because we know when rural America thrives, all of America thrives.”
In Missouri:
- West Central Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Higginsville, will use a $12 million loan to connect more than 1,000 consumers and build and improve 98 miles of line. This loan includes $1,971,600 in smart grid infrastructure which uses digital communications technology to detect and react to local changes in electricity usage. West Central serves more than 14,000 members over 2,576 miles of line in Lafayette, Johnson, Jackson, Cass, and Pettis counties in north central Missouri.
- Southwest Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Bolivar, will use a $17,613,000 loan to connect more than 1,000 consumers and build 33 miles of line. Southwest serves more than 41,000 members over 5,475 miles of line in 11 counties in southwest and southcentral Missouri.
- Associated Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Springfield, will use a $52 million loan to finance a variety of generation system improvement projects. The cooperative provides wholesale power to its six generation and transmission members, who provide wholesale power to 51 distribution-member cooperatives serving 910,000 customers in Missouri, southeastern Iowa, and northeastern Oklahoma.
Today’s announcement is part of a record level of USDA electric infrastructure investments in one fiscal year. The department invested $6.3 billion in the Electric Loan Program in FY 2020, up from $5.8 billion in 2019 – also a record. USDA made loans to 119 utilities in 34 states across the country during FY 2020, which ended on September 30. Those figures build upon the $3.7 billion invested in 2018.
Helping improve rural electric infrastructure is a significant part of the Trump administration’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. USDA’s Electric Program helps finance wind, solar and natural gas plants, as well as improvements to produce clean energy from coal-fired plants. Local utilities also use the loans to invest in infrastructure to deliver affordable power to thousands of residential, commercial and agricultural consumers.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas.
Contact USDA Rural Development
Information on programs available through USDA Rural Development is available by visiting www.rd.usda.gov/mo , by calling (573) 876-0976, or by emailing RDMissouri@usda.gov.
USDA Rural Development has 25 offices across the state to serve the 2.2 million residents living in rural Missouri. Office locations include a state office in Columbia, along with local offices in Butler, Charleston, Chillicothe, Clinton, Dexter, Eldon, Farmington, Higginsville, Houston, Kennett, Kirksville, Maryville, Mexico, Moberly, Neosho, New London, Poplar Bluff, Richmond, Rolla, Sedalia, Springfield, St. Joseph, Troy, and West Plains.
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