Organization

Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) is a generation and transmission cooperative serving seven distribution cooperatives and one municipal. SIPC was originally organized in 1948 by Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association (Steeleville), SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative (Eldorado) and Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative (Dongola) and the City of Cairo. The purpose of the group was to obtain bulk power from the Tennessee Valley Authority through a Kentucky linkage. That attempt failed, but the new organization was able to obtain a notable reduction in electric rates when it signed a ten year bulk power contract for its member systems in 1950. A major goal accomplished, the organization then became dormant until 1957, when it was revived by the three member cooperatives. In 1959, the three electric cooperatives decided to apply to the REA for a $25 million loan with which to construct their own power supply facilities. The loan request made history when it was approved in 1960 as it was the first REA loan for a generation facility.

In 2000, SIPC admitted two additional members – Clinton County Electric Cooperative and Tri-County Electric Cooperative.

On January 1, 1999, Monroe County Electric Cooperative began purchasing 100% of their energy from SIPC. They joined SIPC as the sixth member in 2002. On January 1, 2010, Clay Electric Cooperative joined SIPC as the seventh member.

Membership

SIPC’s Board of Directors is composed of three representatives and the manager from each of the member systems.

Power Supply

SIPC owns and operates its own power supply. In 2003, SIPC completed a significant plant upgrade by replacing three aging small boilers with one 120 MW circulating fluidized bed boiler. The new boiler greatly enhances reliability and slightly increased capacity. The new boiler, which operates at a lower temperature than the cyclone boilers it replaced, is capable of burning a variety of fuels. SIPC currently fuels the boiler with locally available mine waste. In addition to the new boiler, SIPC operated a 173 MW coal-fired unit, which came online in 1978. This unit is equipped with a wet scrubber and selective catalytic reduction technology. The scrubber was part of the original 1978 construction, while the SCR was added in 2003. In an effort to reduce costs, in November 2020, SIPC retired our largest Marion, Illinois coal-fired unit, unit 4.

Other power supply resources include 28MW of hydro-power from the SouthEastern Power Administration, a federally owned facility on the Cumberland River and two 70 MW simple cycle combustion turbines to provide peaking power. In 2007, SIPC purchased an ownership share of a 1,600 MW mine-mouth coal-fired power plant. SIPC owns 7.9% of the project, which equates to approximately 125 MW of power. In 2022, SIPC entered into an agreement to purchase 100 MW of solar power from Big River Solar, located in White County, Illinois.

Power Delivery

SIPC’s power delivery department has the responsibility of forecasting, scheduling, and delivering wholesale power from numerous resources, including coal, natural gas, the wholesale power market, and renewable to meet the needs of more than 84,000 members consumers. The power delivery system consists of nearly 1,100 miles of 69/138/161 kV transmission line, multiple electric stations, and multiple IT/OT communications networks. The department owns, operates, and maintains these systems in order to economically and reliably deliver power and other services to its consumers.

SIPC is an active member of ACES, Mid-continent Independent System Operator, and SERC Reliability Corporation.

Other Points of Interest

SIPC has made a major contribution to the economic well being of the 19 county region in southern Illinois known as “Little Egypt”. SIPC is located on the shores of a 2300 acre lake with 93 miles of shoreline developed by SIPC for cooling water.

SIPC utilizes locally available coal and carbon which enables SIPC to meet its responsibilities to the diversified economy of agriculture, mining, manufacturing and recreation in southern Illinois.

SIPC is a member of ACES Power Marketing, Midcontinent Independent System Operator and Southeast Electric Reliability Council (SERC). In 2008, SIPC joined the National Renewables Cooperative Organization (NRCO) as a founding member. The NRCO mission is to identify and develop renewable energy projects on behalf of member cooperatives.

Southern Illinois Power Cooperative is committed to getting the most value from its Members’ investment through sound management practices. SIPC’s vision and mission statements reflect this concept of value, and SIPC strives continually to take that concept to the next level.

Mission Statement

SIPC is a member-owned and locally controlled autonomous electric power supply system. As such, its mission is: “To deliver to our member systems, highly reliable, reasonably-priced and environmentally responsible wholesale power, for the benefit of their members and their communities.”

Vision Statement

“That our members benefit from their ownership in SIPC – a financially sound, highly reliable, reasonably-priced electric power supply system with a cost-effective, diversified portfolio of generation and transmission assets that they own and control.”

Values

“We, the people of SIPC (Board of Directors, management and staff), pledge to demonstrate the following values, beliefs, principles and standards of professional behavior as we fulfill the duties of our positions:

1. Impeccable integrity and honesty in all that we do.
2. Full and open accountability for all of our decisions and actions.
3. Dedicated stewardship (social, economic and environmental) in the management of all the resources entrusted to our care.
4. Equitable rates for power and services that truly reflect costs.
5. Sensitivity to impacts of rate changes on our member systems.
6. Open and transparent communications with our members.
7. Respect for and responsiveness to the needs of each member while considering the impact of actions on other members.
8. Leadership, innovation and vision in securing and maintaining control over generation resources and transmission services.
9. Respect and goodwill toward one another in support of cooperative unity.
10. Loyalty to the philosophy of cooperative ownership and adherence to cooperative principles.”

Clinton County Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Bob Kroeger, President/COO/CCD
Stephen Kalmer
Cary Dickinson
Tim Hanke

Clay Electric Co-operative, Inc.
Matt Conklin, CEO
Frank Herman
Richard Rudolphi
Bob Pierson

Egyptian Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Shane Hermetz, Executive VP/General Manager, DGC
Ken Jarrett
Kevin Liefer
Steve Prest

Monroe County Electric Co-Operative, Inc.
Alan W. Wattles, President/CEO
George Obernagel
Richard Neff
Amy Hoffmann-Rohlfing

SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Dustin Tripp, President/CEO
Dale Schierbaum
Jamie Scherrer
Richard Rister

Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative
David Johnston, Executive Vice President/General Manager
Scott Miller
Bill Littrell
Randall Rushing

Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Luke Johnson, General Manager
Tom Beyers
Sam Phillips
Kathy Withers