Our History

In 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established by executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the purpose of lending money to cooperatives, commercial power companies, and others to build rural power lines. In 1936, Congress passed the Rural Electrification Act, which established the REA as an agency of the federal government.

When the commercial power companies did not take advantage of the REA loans to build rural power lines, REA began to assist local member-owned electric cooperatives to organize and incorporate. Thus, on March 8, 1939, Beauregard Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BECi) was chartered under Louisiana Laws.

Beauregard Electric Cooperative

The Beauregard Electric Membership Corporation, with general headquarters in DeRidder, is a Louisiana Corporation organized in 1939 to furnish dependable electric service to the rural areas of Southwest and Central Louisiana. The cooperative is a non-profit membership corporation – owned and controlled by the members which it serves.

BECi energized its first lines in 1940. Managing the fledgling member-owned utility was R.I. Davis. The average electric bill was $2.90 for 32 kilowatt-hours or about nine cents a kilowatt-hour. BECi’s annual payroll was $750 and it had two service vehicles. In 2010, the average electric bill was $130.51 for 1,498 kilowatt-hours or less than nine cents a kilowatt-hour.

Today, BECi serves over 44,000 member-owners along 5,750 miles of power line.