A Little History
The Stony Plain REA was formed in 1949, by a group of local farmers, as a way of bringing affordable power to rural Alberta. At this time less than 5% of rural people had "main line power". It was not cost effective for the major utilities companies to service rural farmsteads, as the distance between customers was too great. The farmers were responsible for the full cost of power hook-ups and as a result did much of their own installations. Another way that they kept the costs down was each farmer had to do a minimum of 32 hours of line brushing as partial payment of his service. REA members did the maintenance brushing into the early 60's, when it was then subbed out to private contractors.
In April of 1950, Calgary Power was contracted to string the lines, and an agreement was struck with Farm Electric Services, and the rest is history.
Stony Plain REA Today
The day to day business is operated by a volunteer board of directors, consisting of a president, secretary, and 6 directors at large serving 3-year terms. All are active members in good standing, elected at an Annual General Meeting each year. All our members are encouraged to attend and participate in the process. The REA operates under the Rural Utilities Act, as well as Federal, Provincial, and County regulations and by-laws.
One of our greatest challenges in maintenance, is the cost associated with brushing and vegetation management. We are actively searching for ways to reduce these costs, and member cooperation is the key. At this time our construction and maintenance is sub-contracted to Fortis Alberta.
Current Board Members
President: Brian Schmitke
Vice President: Jim Schoepp
Secretary: Jody Schlacht
Directors: Harold Fuhr
Gary Evjen
Tom Schafers
Art Muz
Keith Bobey