Today, most of Tri-County Electric Co-op’s members live in cities, and many of the rest live in or near bustling towns like Westlake, Granbury, Haslet, Azle and Hudson Oaks.
We’re there because every bit of Tri-County Electric Co-op’s original turf was rural. Back in the 1930s, the homes, farms, schools and businesses in that 16-county, 200-mile swath of North Texas were not on the radar of for-profit utilities.
The co-op traces its roots to a Halloween night meeting in 1938 at Liberty School, north of Azle. Over the next two months, rural leaders visited schools, churches and community centers telling folks about a new agency – the Rural Electrification Administration – and signing up those who wanted electric power for their homes, farms and businesses.
By the time Tri-County Electric Co-op was chartered on March 20, 1939, it had 375 members and a rented office in the two-story rock building that now
Membership grew steadily through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The co-op opened a new headquarters in Azle in 1964; the Keller office opened in 1965 and the Granbury office came on line in 1973 as membership crossed the 10,000 mark. That year, the opening of D/FW Airport began to transform rural communities in north Tarrant County into suburbs and cities.
By 1987, the co-op’s membership had topped 20,000 and the Alliance development had begun another exciting transformation in Tri-County Electric Co-op territory.
In 1998, Tri-County merged with B-K Electric Cooperative, based in Seymour, adding nine more counties to the service area. Membership topped 30,000 that year, and skyrocketing growth pushed the number to 60,000 by 2007. In 2022, Tri-County Electric Co-op crossed the 100,000 mark and took its place among the 20 largest electric cooperatives in the United States.
Bursting at the seams, the co-op moved its administrative offices to Aledo in May 2020. Annual meetings went online that year – a move that had a positive effect on participation and communication. Bylaws changes made it possible
