Volunteer Linemen provide communities with first-time electricity access Linemen from nine Illinois electric cooperatives brought power and opportunity to four Bolivian villages last week. The 12 linemen returned to Illinois safely after spending three weeks in central Bolivia constructing a power distribution system to 62 households and two schools. “These three weeks in Bolivia were […]

Senator Jil Tracy and Representative’s Norine Hammond and Randy Frese met with students representing McDonough Power Cooperative and McDonough Telephone Cooperative during the Illinois Electric and Telephone Cooperatives Youth Day on Wednesday, March 29 in Springfield. More than 240 students from around Illinois had an opportunity to visit the State Capitol, view state government in […]

Just under $7,500 in McDonough Power Cooperative Operation Round-Up grants was recently awarded to area organizations. West Prairie Elementary School received $956.36 for heart rate monitors and heart rate charts for their kindergarten through fourth grade physical education program. Bridgeway Foundation accepted $2,500 towards the purchase of a shrink wrap machine for their Night Sky […]

Winter storms can cause prolonged power outages by weighing power lines down with ice, causing trees to fall into lines, or creating hazardous road conditions resulting in vehicle accidents with power poles. To safely weather a winter outage, you need to prepare and know what to do when a storm strikes. When the lights go […]

Did you know that when you use electricity often matters as much as how much electricity you consume? It’s no surprise that electricity use fluctuates throughout the day based on consumer demand, and electric co-ops must be able to provide enough electricity to meet the energy demands of their members during times of highest energy […]

Rate design is a balancing act between meeting our revenue needs and minimizing member impact. Since we are a not-for-profit organization, we do not need large profits to satisfy far-away owners. Rather, we simply need to recover our costs of doing business, as well as provide sufficient margins to reinvest back into our electric distribution […]

In August, McDonough Power Cooperative mailed Capital Credit checks to the last known address of members who received electric service in 1987-1988. The Cooperative is attempting to locate former members (or possibly their heirs) who received electric service during that time. Following is a partial list of former members who have not cashed their checks […]

The Operation Round-Up committee approved funds to local organizations totaling $8,569 for the third quarter of 2016. Recipients include: Bushnell ESDA – $1,569 (Emergency Services Disaster Agency) Handheld Radio & 20 Reflective Traffic Cones West Prairie Middle School – $500 Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) Program Central Warren Fire District – $2,100 Thermal Imaging […]

McDonough Power Cooperative president and CEO Mike Smith has announced that the Illinois electric cooperatives in 2017 will award nine academic scholarships to high school seniors through a memorial scholarship fund designed to financially assist deserving students in the “electric cooperative family.”   In addition, a tenth scholarship – to assist with costs in attending an […]

In the 2012 national elections, voter turnout dropped by 9 percent overall, but the decline in rural counties was 18 percent—twice that of the nation as a whole. Today McDonough Power Cooperative is joining a national program to help turn this around by encouraging our employees and members to register to vote and go to […]