Natchez Trace Electric Power Association is a member-owned electric cooperative with headquarters in Houston, Mississippi, and district offices in Calhoun City and Eupora.
Natchez Trace EPA provides reliable electric service to just over 12,000 members in portions of Calhoun, Chickasaw, Clay, Grenada, Pontotoc, Webster, and Yalobusha counties in north central Mississippi.
Key Stats
16080
Electric Services
12021
Members
Meters per Mile of Line
7.41
2169
Miles of Electric Distribution Lines
40686
Power Poles
130
Miles Right-of-Way Clearance per Year
4
Substations
Governance
NTEPA is proud to be owned by the members that we serve. Our Bylaws serve as an “owner’s manual” and spell out how cooperative business is conducted. Our members elect a 9-member Board of Directors that govern the co-op. An annual meeting of members is held yearly.
Where Your Utility Payments Go
At Natchez Trace EPA, every dollar you pay is carefully managed and reinvested to keep your power reliable, affordable, and locally controlled. Here’s how your electric revenue is used:
Energy Costs
70%
The majority of what you pay—70¢ of every dollar—goes directly to buying wholesale power through the Tennessee Valley Authority. This covers the cost of generating and delivering electricity to our local grid.
Operations & Maintenance
13%
We spend 13% maintaining the poles, wires, substations, and equipment that keep your lights on. This ensures safety and reliability every day.
Administrative Costs
4%
Administrative expenses include all of the many expenses incurred to run the business operations of the cooperative smoothly.
Consumer Accounts
3%
This covers direct services to members, including account management, billing, collections, meter reading, and member communication.
Debt Service
3%
Like most utilities, we finance major projects over time. This portion goes toward repaying loans used to upgrade and expand our electric system.
System Improvements From Margins
6%
Rather than sending profits to investors, we reinvest margins directly back into our system to fund upgrades and improve service.
Taxes
1%
Even as a non-profit cooperative, we still pay certain taxes, including local franchise taxes that help fund the municipalities we serve.
Why It Matters
As a member-owned cooperative, every dollar works for you—not Wall Street. This chart shows that Natchez Trace EPA is committed to transparency, financial responsibility, and keeping your power both affordable and dependable.
History
In the early 1930s, fewer than 1% of rural homes in Mississippi had electricity, leaving many residents without modern conveniences and still reliant on outdated methods for water, cooking, and sanitation. While urban areas benefitted from electric power, utility companies avoided rural areas due to lack of profit.
To address this, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935 to provide low-interest loans for rural electrification. In 1939, communities in Calhoun, Chickasaw, and Webster counties formed the Natchez Trace Electric Power Association (NTEPA) to bring electricity to their region using power from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
With an REA loan, NTEPA purchased existing power infrastructure, gaining access to 1,442 consumer accounts and 56 miles of electric lines. Despite limited resources, the cooperative officially launched on Dec. 18, 1939, with just 5 employees, driven by dedication to NTEPA’s mission.
NTEPA expanded electric service to additional rural communities across 4 Mississippi counties. This growth brought electricity to many homes and farms for the first time, boosting local economies as contractors and suppliers prepared for increased demand.
However, nationwide progress in rural electrification slowed during the early years of World War II due to material shortages imposed by the War Production Board.
After World War II, NTEPA resumed strong growth, not only expanding electric service but also educating consumers on safe and efficient electricity use at home and on farms.
In 1955, a new branch office opened in Calhoun City to better serve the community.
To help residents understand the benefits of electrification, NTEPA hired Laura Kealhofer as a home economist to demonstrate electric appliances and partnered with TVA to offer traveling demonstrations, showcasing the advantages of electricity.
NTEPA continued its expansion by opening a second branch office in Eupora. By this time, the cooperative served 10,000 members, each using an average of 8,500 kilowatt-hours annually— 8 times more than in the 1940s. Despite this significant growth in energy use, NTEPA’s electricity costs remained at just half the national average.
The 1973 international oil embargo triggered an energy crisis, causing fuel costs and inflation to surge, straining the U.S. economy. In the Tennessee Valley, electricity prices rose fivefold from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. Material costs for power line construction also soared—copper wire rose by 400%, aluminum by 112%, among other increases. In response, NTEPA prioritized energy efficiency and encouraged members to conserve energy in an effort to keep costs down.
Natchez Trace EPA continued strengthening its electric distribution system by building new substations in Houston and Vardaman to support growing demand. Mainline distribution lines were upgraded from 7,200 KV to 14.4 KV for improved efficiency.
The cooperative also replaced outdated mechanical meters with advanced AMI systems to reduce costs and modernize operations.
Using cutting-edge GIS software, the entire distribution network was fully mapped, enhancing planning and service reliability.
NTEPA remained committed to adopting new technologies to improve customer service and ensure a more dependable electric system.
In response to the lack of high-speed internet access in its service area, Natchez Trace EPA began exploring solutions in 2018. Multiple feasibility studies were conducted between 2018 and 2020, estimating a $40 million cost for building a network, using fiber optic technology.
The 2019 Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act gave the cooperatives in Mississippi legal authority to pursue the high-speed internet projects. The COVID-19 pandemic later made federal funding available for high-speed internet technology expansion.
Natchez Trace EPA secured $4.3 million in pandemic-related funds and began construction in Webster County in September 2020, where high-speed internet access was most limited. They also obtained an additional $10 million from the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund in 2021.
The first customers received service in December 2020, just 4 months after construction began. By December 2022, mainline construction was completed, effectively eliminating the high-speed internet divide for all members in the NTEPA’s service area.
75th Anniversary Commemorative Book
Learn more about the cooperative’s history in this commemorative book:
The Cooperative Difference
As a cooperative, we operate by the 7 cooperative principles:
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.
Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the general membership. In primary cooperatives, members have equal voting rights – 1 member, 1 vote.
Members contribute to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public – particularly young people and opinion leaders – about the nature and benefits of cooperation.
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional, and international structures.
While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.