Wolverine Power Cooperative10125 West Watergate Road , Cadillac, Michigan, United States

As late as the mid-1930s, nine out of ten rural homes were without electric service. The farmer milked his cows by hand in the dim light of a kerosene lantern. His wife was a slave to the wood range and washboard. The unavailability of electricity in rural areas kept their economies entirely and exclusively dependent on agriculture. Factories and businesses, of course, preferred to locate in cities where electric power was easily acquired. For many years, power companies ignored the rural areas of the nation. On May 11, 1935, President Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) Act, which was passed in 1936 and provided federal assistance to accomplish rural electrification. Once World War II ended, electricity rapidly spread across rural America, with 90 percent of farms having electricity by 1953. Today, approximately 99 percent of the nation’s farms have electric service, thanks to the drive and determination of electric cooperatives.

Wolverine has been serving our members for over 60 years.

 Wolverine was formed January 1, 1983, resulting from a merger of Wolverine Electric Cooperative and Northern Michigan Electric Cooperative. Wolverine Electric, originally headquartered in Big Rapids, was formed to serve four electric distribution cooperatives in southwest Michigan in 1948. Northern Michigan Electric, headquartered in Boyne City, was also formed in 1948 to provide service to three electric distribution cooperatives in northern Michigan.

• Wolverine is owned by our seven member cooperatives, and they are at the heart of everything we do. We exist so that our members will have reliable power supply at competitive prices that they can pass on to their member-consumers.
• Rural America didn’t experience the convenience of electricity until the late ’30’s and early ’40’s when President Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration. Wolverine was established in 1948 and has been serving our members ever since.
• With 7 natural gas generation facilities, partial ownership in 3 coal-fired power plants, 46 transmission stations, 146 distribution substations, 1,600 miles of transmission lines, and a strong renewable energy portfolio, our members are positioned with clean, reliable and affordable power supply for years to come.
• We are only as good as the promises we keep. Our mission isn’t just a bunch of words. We live it everyday! We exist to fulfill our mission of providing outstanding service to our members by delivering reliable, competitive power supply.