SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative, Inc
100 Cooperative Way, Carrier Mills, Illinois, United States

At SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative, not only is the delivery of energy provided by your local cooperative, the generation and transmission of your energy is also provided by a local cooperative.  Your cooperative is part owner of Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) located at the Lake of Egypt near Marion.  Like our cooperative, SIPC is a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative that serves seven distribution cooperatives in Southern Illinois.   SIPC provides a significant boost to our local economy by providing local jobs at the plant and various other associated organizations.  SIPC also consumes a local fuel supply that supports our local economy and provides additional jobs right here in Southern Illinois.

As part owner of SIPC, your cooperative has a voice in the decisions that affect the generation and transmission of your energy.  The SIPC Board of Directors consists of four representatives from each of the seven distribution cooperative members.  Your Cooperative’s representatives consist of three Trustees and the President/CEO. 

For almost 50 years now, your Cooperative's ownership in generation facilities at SIPC has provided a great advantage for our membership and provided a tremendous economic advantage for Southern Illinois by providing local jobs and using Southern Illinois coal in an environmentally responsible way.

In summary, from start to finish your electric energy is generated, transmitted and delivered to you by local cooperatives with a very unique business model that benefits all of us as cooperative members. 

History:

In 1963, Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) began producing electricity for three distribution cooperative members at its Marion plant.  In addition to SouthEastern, original members included Egyptian Electric Cooperative at Steeleville and the Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative at Dongola.  At that time, SIPC’s plant capacity was 99 megawatts (MW) which far exceeded member requirements.  Generation capacity consisted of three 33 MW turbines, each powered by a cyclone boiler.

In the 1970’s demand for electricity grew significantly and threatened to exceed SIPC’s plant capacity.  A decision was made to construct a fourth generating unit, which came online in 1978 and provides 173 MW of generating capacity. 

In the 1990's and early 2000's, changes in the utility industry and additional load growth provided by three more distribution Cooperatives led SIPC to modernize its generation facility by replacing the original three boilers with one circulating fluidized bed boiler and adding environmental controls on the fourth unit which allowed SIPC to operate more environmentally friendly while continuing to use Southern Illinois coal as its fuel source. In addition, SIPC added two natural gas combustion turbines to provide additional generation capacity during peak power periods. Over the past decade, SIPC continues to experience more demand for electricity and in order to meet future power needs, SIPC evaluated options including construction of a new power plant, long-term contract to purchase power from another supplier and joint ownership of a power plant.

In order to meet future power needs, the SIPC Board of Directors voted to acquire 125 megawatts of the Prairie State energy Campus.  Prairie State is a 1,600 megawatt supercritical coal-fueled power plant located in Washington County, Illinois near Marissa.  Prairie State provides electricity approximately 1.7 million families from Missouri to Virginia.  Prairie State features advanced technology resulting in high efficiencies while achieving emissions that are far superior to America’s current coal-fired generating fleet.  Prairie State is fueled from an adjacent coal mine, thereby minimizing fuel and related transportation costs.  The ownership share of Prairie State will diversify SIPC’s generation mix providing economies of scale unavailable in a small unit.