On February 24th, 1939, a group of 75 men and women of Jackson County met at the courthouse for the purpose of arranging a rural electrification organization in Jackson County. The House was called to order by the Jackson County Agent after which a temporary organization was formed. Mr. Allen Burditt of La Ward was elected chairman and thirteen others, from Edna, Ganado, La Ward, Louise, Palacios, Olivia, and Navidad, were elected to organize a permanent organization. The permanent organization was formed to be known as the Jackson Electric Cooperative (JEC) to expand over the whole of Jackson Co. and portions of Calhoun and Matagorda Counties.

On March 28th, 1939, Jackson Electric Cooperative was officially organized in LaWard, Texas, and the charter was granted by the State of Texas March 30, 1939. We received our first allotment of $149,000.00 to construct 180 miles of lines to serve 450 members.

On October 2nd, 1939 the first meeting of the Directors was held after the adjournment of the first annual meeting of the members.

On February 7th, 1940 the first section of this line was energized.

On April 13th, 1940, Matagorda Electric Cooperative sold all their property and assets to JEC in order to run a much more effective business

In April 1941, JEC became a member of the Texas Power Reserve Electric Cooperative, Inc.

In September 1941, Allen L. Burditt was made the first general manager of Jackson Electric Cooperative, Inc. (1941 – 1964).

In November 1945, JEC bought it’s first Pole Hole Digger.

JEC begins using Two-way radio equipment to communicate with employees in the field.

JEC created bylaws, which included items such as: voting, the annual meeting, quorum, voting districts, the vacancies, nomination, election, and removal of directors, and qualifications and tenure.

JEC has 996 miles of total line (10th Anniversary).

January 29th – February 1st a severe ice storm impacted our service territory that caused more the 5,000 line breaks and about 400 broken poles, thereby interrupting electric service to 2,800 homes and business establishments. The estimated damage was approximately $30,000 and 68 men from 14 cooperatives assisted in repairing the damage.

Willie Wiredhand, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s mascot, was adopted.

JEC builds new headquarters office in Edna, Texas.

JEC has 1286 miles of total line (20th Anniversary).

JEC became a member-owner of STEC.

In September 1961, Hurricane Carla impacted our service territory, estimated damages were approximately $50,000. Homes were badly damaged and although power was restored quickly, it took several months to get the lines back into excellent shape like they were before the hurricane.

JEC only had about 20 employees.

The Bay City, Edna, and Palacios substations were energized.

2nd General Manager, B.H. Horne, for JEC (1964-1975).

The Sargent substation was energized.

JEC has 1541 miles of total line (30th Anniversary).

The Ganado substation was energized.

3rd General Manager, Brad Woodward, for JEC (1975-1983).

The Van Vleck substation was energized.

The Olivia substation was energized.

JEC builds office in Bay City, Texas.

JEC has 1738 miles of total line (40th Anniversary).

The El Toro substation was energized.

The Franklins Camp substation was energized.

4th General Manager, Roy Griffin, for JEC (1983-2015).

JEC sent their first participant to the Government in Action Youth Tour.

JEC purchased their first in-house computer system.

The Carancahua substation was energized.

JEC has 1947 miles of total line (50th Anniversary).

JEC began to offer budget billing to their members.

Began doing DirecTV installs (stopped in 1997).

The Tin Top substation was energized.

The national Touchstone Energy brand was formed, and the Cooperative adopted the national brand.

JEC has 2089 miles of total line (60th Anniversary).

JEC Propane, a subsidiary of JEC, began offering propane services to the public.

Hurricane Claudette impacted our service territory and damages were an estimated $500,000.

JEC launched their first website.

The Red Bluff substation was energized.

JEC has 2288 miles of total line (70th Anniversary).

JEC office in Edna moves into their new headquarters office in Ganado.

The Cordele substation was energized.

The new GIS mapping system was initiated, replacing the traditional paper maps.

5th General Manager, James E. Coleman, for JEC (2015-Current).

JEC began installing smart meters throughout the service territory, serving as a building block for Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI).

JEC relaunched the Washington Youth Tour program, which continues today.

JEC office in Bay City moves into their new office in Bay City.

The Cooperative joined the Cooperative Response Center to provide expanded telephone answering service for the membership, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Hurricane Harvey impacted our service territory and damages were an estimated $1,555,594.

Started laying fiber for internet.

JEC Propane moves into their new office in El campo.

In June, JEC begins selling Generators.

In April 2019, JEC launches its first mobile app.

JEC has 2457 miles of total line, as of January 2019 (80th Anniversary).

February 15th – 18th, 2021 a Historic Ice Storm (Uri) hit Texas, and the grid was about 4 minutes away from having a complete blackout.