Often when someone thinks of rural America, images of rolling fields and farmland communities rooted in older traditions and a slower, simpler lifestyle come to mind.
And yet, as many residents of these areas already know, some of the most exciting examples of technology can be found right here in these small towns and villages.
Hundreds of rural electric cooperatives, which power these regions, have invested in countless resources that will deliver better service and a better quality of life to their members. One in particular, the Northwestern Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Inc. (Northwestern REC), headquartered in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, has distinguished itself among its peers in the electric distribution business. Throughout its 78-year-history, the Northwestern REC has introduced new and exciting initiatives to better serve its 19,684 members and more than 21,000 accounts in five counties of northwestern Pennsylvania — Crawford, Erie, Mercer, Venango and Warren — as well as neighboring Ashtabula County in Ohio.
From the Co-op’s automatic meter reading system that operates in real time to its energy efficient load management system and new web application that provides 24/7 service to its members, Northwestern REC could best be described as a “utility of the future today.”
Read more in the April 2014 edition of the Business Magazine.
