Cimarron Electric Cooperative was organized in 1935; it was then called Consumers Rural Electric Company. Incorporated on December 23, 1936, Consumers Rural Electric Company became the first electric cooperative in Oklahoma and one of the first ten in the United States. Consumers Rural Electric Company was officially changed to Cimarron Electric Cooperative at our annual meeting in 1939.

CEC started at a meeting in the Peoples National Bank board room. At that time five trustees were elected to start working toward bringing electricity to the rural areas. The early going was tough due to skepticism of cost or whether it could be done at all. A five dollar fee was established for membership. Many creative ways were used to collect the five dollar fee; payment plans, eggs and almost anything else that they could arrange. They were able to sign-up about 446 members. A $300,000 loan was approved by the newly created Rural Electrification Administration or REA(Now called Rural Utilities Service or RUS) to construct a rural distribution system that would provide electrical service to those 446 farms and homes. Today, CEC has grown to provide electrical service to approximately 13,000 meters over 4,300 miles of electrical line. The service area covers over 2,700 square miles and includes parts of Kingfisher, Logan, Blaine, Oklahoma, Major, Canadian, Dewey, Garfield, and Custer counties.

CEC has assets in excess of $63 million and employs approximately 52 people. Every member of Cimarron Electric Cooperative is an owner of this business. Cimarron Electric is, literally, owned by those we serve.

Cimarron Electric Cooperative is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative. Touchstone Energy is the national brand of electric cooperatives and is an alliance of more than 600 electric cooperatives across the nation.

Gross-receipts taxes are paid every year by Cimarron Electric Cooperative to the local school districts based on miles of line in each district. This tax amounts to nearly $500 thousand a year.

CEC’s service area is divided into nine districts. A trustee is elected by the consumer/members to serve a three-year term. The current trustees are listed below: