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July 2011 That Reminds Me
Celebrating 60
 by Emily Schilling
Editor
This issue marks a milestone for
Electric Consumer: Sixty years ago — in July 1951 — a 12-page monthly newspaper named Indiana Rural News debuted. The 58.900 circulation publication, the forerunner to Electric Consumer, included tips on using electricity wisely and safely, a pen pal page, recipes and sewing pattern offers. But it was its editorials and news articles — from an electric co-op viewpoint previously ignored by mainstream media —that made Indiana Rural News stand out.
The 1950s were a tumultuous time for electric co-ops. Since investor-owned utilities (IOUs), which had refused to string power lines to sparsely populated rural areas in the 1930s, were the sole suppliers of power for co-ops, they were able to charge whatever they wanted for the electricity. When a group of co-ops decided to build their own generation and transmission cooperative, those IOUs waged a smear campaign against the co-ops. Indiana Rural Ne
ws’ first editor, A. D. Mueller, regularly refuted IOU propaganda, educating co-op members about their rights and benefits as owners of their own power company.
The co-ops’ battle to build their own generating plant continued throughout the 1960s, until finally in 1970, after endless legal wrangling and intervention from two Rural Electric Administration administrators, Hoosier Energy’s generating station in Petersburg, Ind., began full-time operation.
The late ’60s also saw territorial disputes arising between co-ops, municipal power companies and IOUs. These disputes would continue throughout the next decade.
Indiana Rural News’ evolution mirrored the changing times with articles on the environmental movement and nuclear energy. In 1982, Indiana Rural News officially changed its name to Electric Consumer promising that “stories of interest to you — the consumer — will be our primary goal.”
I joined the newspaper’s staff in late 1983, and have been here for changes in the publication’s look and content, its foray onto the web and into social media, and its increasing involvement in projects that impact lives (like the Youth Power and Hope Awards highlighted on the back cover). We’ve focused on issues like electric industry deregulation, cap-and-trade legislation and the smart grid in recent years.
It’s been an eventful 60 years! All of us at Electric Consumerlook forward to continuing to evolve with you and the world around us.
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