Our Story

Delivering Energy for Life

Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WECI) is a member-owned utility dedicated to providing more than just power—we Deliver Energy for Life. This means ensuring the electricity you rely on is there for everything that matters most:

Powering essential operations like grain bins after harvest.
Keeping critical life-support equipment running safely.
Lighting up schools, athletic fields, and local businesses.

We maintain a vast and essential system to serve our community, encompassing:

Over 20,000 homes and businesses (approx. 32,000 meters).
A service territory covering 14 Kansas counties and parts of 3 Colorado counties.
More than 4,500 miles of power lines and over 100,000 poles, ensuring power reaches even the most remote areas of our region.

Serving Our Members: The Co-op Difference

As a cooperative, we operate under a different philosophy than investor-owned utilities. We are wholly owned by the members we serve, meaning our primary focus is on service, reliability, and community well-being, not shareholder profit.

Local Control & Accountability

Our decisions are made locally. Following a vote for self-regulation in 2014, control over the cooperative's prices and projects remains here at home, directed by a locally-elected Board of Trustees who are also members.

Community Commitment

We believe in the power of cooperation that extends beyond your electric meter. Our history demonstrates a commitment to stepping up when our communities need us:

We founded Wheatland Water to help ensure a reliable water supply in the Garden City area.
We support local initiatives like Power the Pantry and provide scholarships for local youth.
We work tirelessly to ensure the 4,500th mile of line is treated with the same importance as the first, guaranteeing reliability for every member.

Capital Credits: We Share the Success

Capital credits are one of the most significant advantages of being a co-op member—it literally pays to belong to your co-op!

When WECI's revenues exceed the cost of doing business, the excess funds are known as margins. Unlike for-profit companies where margins are paid out to distant shareholders, your cooperative operates on a not-for-profit basis.

How capital credits work:

Allocation: The margins are allocated back to members based on how much electricity you purchased throughout the year. These are your capital credits.
Investment: We temporarily hold and use these funds as working capital to pay for system improvements, maintenance, and long-term stability (e.g., purchasing new transformers, upgrading lines). This helps us keep rates stable and our system reliable.
Retirement: When the co-op's financial condition permits, trustees votes to retire (or pay out) capital credits. This means WECI sends those funds directly back to our members, putting money back into our local homes and businesses.

Our Story: Born Out of Necessity, Driven by Community

The story of Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc. is the story of community empowerment.

In 1948, a group of nine visionary residents in western Kansas were tired of being ignored. For-profit power companies refused to invest the money necessary to bring electricity to rural America.

Taking matters into their own hands, these founders secured loans, set up offices, and, through pure grit and determination, began laying the first miles of power lines. By 1950, their efforts resulted in connecting over 2,200 new members.

That same pioneering "up-by-the-bootstraps" attitude defines us today. When faced with challenges—whether it's power delivery, water scarcity, or restoring reliable service to struggling communities—WECI applies the cooperative spirit to find local solutions. We will always be driven by the needs of our members, because at WECI, we're not just a company, we're a partnership.