Acting under the terms of the Rural Electrification Act, the Petition For The Creation of the District was filed and approved on December 31, 1938. At the board’s first legal meeting on January 4, 1939, the by-laws were approved, and a resolution was adopted to borrow funds from the Rural Electrification Administration in Washington, D.C. for line construction in York County. During the months following, engineers and a construction company were hired to build power lines, and on February 6, 1940, it was announced that 130 miles of line had been constructed, and that 118 customers were receiving power from the District.
The District continued to grow steadily, even through the long years of World War II. On October 2, 1945, the Board of Directors adopted a resolution to add Fillmore County to its service area. In the years that have followed, new substations have been built as lines have expanded, and as electric loads have continued to grow throughout the service area.
In 2000, the District changed its name to Perennial Public Power District. Today Perennial serves over 8,000 customers in York and Fillmore counties including the towns of Benedict, Exeter, Grafton, Gresham, Henderson, Lushton, McCool Junction, Milligan, Ohiowa, Strang, Thayer, and Waco.