Verendrye Electric Cooperative is a public utility cooperative based in Velva, North Dakota, but also has a service center in Minot. It serves rural consumers across a seven-county area in north central North Dakota, but the bulk of its service area lies within Ward and McHenry counties. Verendrye Electric receives power from the Central Power Electric Cooperative - in fact, Verendrye took the lead in establishing Central Power in 1949 after having to deal with a 30% rate hike from its previous power supplier in 1948.
It is named after the French Canadian explorer La Vérendrye; and for its first two years, it was headquartered in the small town of Verendrye, North Dakota (northwest of Karlsruhe; now a ghost town).
Famous quotes containing the words electric and/or cooperative:
“Wisdom is like electricity. There is no permanently wise man, but men capable of wisdom, who, being put into certain company, or other favorable conditions, become wise for a short time, as glasses rubbed acquire electric power for a while.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Then we grow up to be Daddy. Domesticated men with undomesticated, frontier dreams. Suddenly life—or is it the children?—is not as cooperative as it ought to be. It’s tough to be in command of anything when a baby is crying or a ten-year-old is in despair. It’s tough to feel a sense of control when you’ve got to stop six times during the half-hour ride to Grandma’s.”
—Hugh O’Neill (20th century)