About Us

In the early 1930’s America was facing a moment of crisis. A great depression had rocked the nation. Rural communities were particularly hurt, and north Mississippi was impoverished with very little economic and social advancement in sight.

One major problem faced by rural Mississippians was the lack of electricity. Less than one percent of farms here had electric power. The others did without, with little hope that investor-owned, for profit, power companies would ever provide service. In 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was established due to the efforts of President Roosevelt.

The TVA has as a mission, the development of natural resources of the Tennessee Valley, the greatest of which was power. TVA pledged to generate electric power and sell it at a reasonable cost to municipal owned and cooperatively-owned power distributors. In 1936, President Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act (REA), which was set up as a lending agency of the federal government to provide capital to finance electric generating plants, transmission lines and distribution lines in rural areas.

In 1937 Central Electric Power Association was formed. Now, decades later, Central EPA continues to meet the needs of its member-owners and is ready to usher in a new era of electric utilities as the industry prepares for the future. With the same hard work and commitment to low rates, superior service standards and to the communities we serve, Central EPA will continue to make a difference in Central Mississippi.