The third and final step is distribution. Fairfield is a distribution cooperative, which means we maintain the lines and equipment necessary to distribute to our member-owners the electricity that arrives in our service area via transmission lines.

The transmission lines from which we get our power are designed, constructed and maintained by Central Electric Power Cooperative (CEPC). Whereas Fairfield is a distribution cooperative owned by and accountable to its member-owners, CEPC is a transmission cooperative owned by and accountable to 20 electric co-ops located throughout our state. Fairfield is one of those 20 cooperatives.

The electric cooperatives' distribution system is the largest in South Carolina. It distributes electricity along 58,098 miles of power lines through more than 70% of the land mass in the state, while serving over one-half million customers in all 46 counties.

Of course, in order for there to be any electricity to transmit or distribute, generation must occur, and that's where The South Carolina Public Service Authority, better known as Santee Cooper, comes in.

Unlike Fairfield and CEPC, however, this self-sustaining, state-owned electric utility is not a member-owned cooperative. Rather, Santee-Cooper provides retail electric service to residences and businesses along the South Carolina coast from Myrtle Beach to Georgetown.

A little history
CEPC or "Central", as it's commonly known, was formed in response to what Winchester Smith, Chairman of the South Carolina Public Service Commission in 1949, called, "a woeful shortage of distribution lines, inadequate service and power in (lower, central and eastern South Carolina)."

Central reached an agreement with Santee Cooper whereby the cooperative would build 934 miles of transmission lines while Santee Cooper would maintain the lines and pay an annual fee equal to Central's loan payments. This mutually advantageous arrangement resulted in a 20% reduction in the price Central's members were paying for electricity ... savings that Central passed on to our state's rural residents.