Monroe County Electric Co-operative (MCEC) is a cooperative owned and controlled by its member-consumers...the people it serves.When you get your electricity from large investor-owned utilities, you're helping to provide a profit for the companies stockholders. An electric cooperative is a not-for-profit organization. Any leftover funds are returned to the members as capital credits. Monroe County is one of 26 consumer-owned electric cooperatives in Illinois and more than 900 across the nation. These cooperatives were organized by farmers and rural people in the 1930's and 1940's when electric companies couldn't or wouldn't bring service to many rural areas. Over the years, electric cooperatives have built lines to very sparsley-settled areas, struggled to develop reliable wholesale power supplies, and upgrade services and rebuild lines as the economy developed. During the past 60 years, cooperatives have done more than just bring electricity to the country...they've worked to improve the quality of life in rural areas.