Mission: To provide a quality service (electricity, water, wastewater, Internet) at a reasonable price, bringing vital services to increase both the quality of life and economic health in the Mid-South Synergy service area.

What’s in a name? For sixty years, Mid-South Electric Cooperative has delivered affordable, reliable energy to the people of six south Texas counties.  For the next sixty-years (or more), the same service will be performed by Mid-South Synergy.  The two are the same company; only the name has changed.  Some people, however, refer to it by neither name.  “A few of our customers still call us ‘the REA’ ” smiles Mid-South’s new general manager, Kerry Kelton.

Mid-South began as one of the state’s smaller cooperatives in 1940, although the outbreak of World War II delayed actual delivery of electricity until early ’42.  Total membership that year numbered only 94 people, who paid $224.31 for their first month of service.  Since the coop’s seven employees drew a collective monthly salary of $479.82, the coop finished its first month in the red to the tune of $225.51.  Fortunately, that figure was hardly an augur; other members joined and the coop soon was not only operating in the black but able to repay the REA its $100,000 loan (plus 2.4% interest, of course).

Mid-South has done a lot of growing in the years since.  Its original 123 miles of line has become 3,000.  The solitary pickup truck that served the coop in 1941 has grown to a fleet of 50 vehicles, and its staff has expanded from seven to 84.  The coop now has more than 19,000 meters, often adding more customers in a month than its entire initial membership.  Gross revenues for 1999 were $24 million.  Quite a change for an enterprise that once struggled to meet a hundred member minimum!

Mid-South has changed in more ways than membership however.  Since 1998 it has offered both water and Internet services.  “We decided to offer these services because there was a clear need for them in our area.” says Kelton.  “People around here have counted on Mid-South for sixty years.  We want them to be able to count on it for another sixty.  That means not just meeting their needs, but anticipating them.”

Mid-South’s new services are a response to needs both old and new.  “Water is a basic household requirement” says Kelton.  “We were in a position to provide water for some of the new communities that are springing up in our service area, and the board felt that was a logical expansion of our services.  Internet is a demand that didn’t even exist ten years ago, but it’s become as basic as phone service.”

Customer confusion over the new subsidiaries—then known as MSEC Enterprises and MSEC Communications—precipitated the name change.  “We felt it would be less confusing if we billed everything under one name.” explains Kelton.  “Also, since Mid-south was now providing more than just electricity, the board decided we needed a name that reflected our expanded services.”

It was former General Manager Kenneth Camp, who retired in October, who suggested “synergy” as a term aptly describing Mid-South’s new services and rapid expansion. The change was made official in June of 2000 at the
cooperative’s annual meeting, held this year in Montgomery High School.  The more than five hundred members in attendance embraced the new name and logo.

What is synergy?  “When the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, you’ve got synergy.” says Kelton.  The new name reflects not only added services but Mid-South’s recent energetic growth.  Although headquartered in Navasota, the company has district offices in Montgomery and Huntsville, with 10 substations, including one recently added in Montgomery.  The coop now serves customers in Grimes, Montgomery, Madison, Walker, Brazos and Waller counties.

Mid-South is unusual among rural electric coops in that 20% of its business comes from commercial accounts, including its largest single customer, the Texas Department of Corrections’ Ellis Unit near Huntsville.  Recent growth, however, has been mostly residential. The increasing urbanization of parts of Montgomery, Grimes, and Walker counties—mostly the area between Montgomery and the Woodlands—has added to Mid-South’s membership by 1000 meters this year alone.

Kelton sees the brisk growth continuing for some time, even with the possibility of competition from electric deregulation. “Our rates are highly competitive with private utilities.” he says.  “As far as service goes, we have a standard that any private operation would envy.  When you offer the best deal, word gets around.” 

Kelton is only the sixth person to serve as general manager of Mid-South, an indication of the company’s stability and the continuity of its management.  The world has changed greatly since electric power first traveled from farmhouse to farmhouse six decades ago.  Mid-South has changed as well, but its reputation as a reliable provider of affordable power remains as bright today as ever.

More than likely, the young families moving into new homes in subdivisions where the tar is still damp know little of the history of Mid-South or other rural cooperatives.  Nor do they need to.  What matters to them, as it did to the farmers sixty years ago, is that when they flip the switch, the lights come on.

As they have done since 1942, the people of Mid-South Synergy will make sure the lights always come on – today, and tomorrow, and every tomorrow to come.