Rural Electrification Act

The Rural Electrification Act of 1936, enacted on May 20, 1936, provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve isolated rural areas of the United States.

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Rural Electrification Act

Other short titles	Rural Electrification and Telephone Service Act of 1936
Long title	An Act to provide for rural electrification, and for other purposes.
Nicknames	Rural Electrification Act of 1936
Enacted by	the 74th United States Congress
Effective	May 20, 1936
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 74–605
Statutes at Large	49 Stat. 1363
Codification
Titles amended	7 U.S.C.: Agriculture
U.S.C. sections created	7 U.S.C. ch. 31 § 901 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 3483 by George W. Norris (I–NE) on February 17, 1936 Committee consideration by Senate Agriculture and Forestry, House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Passed the Senate on March 5, 1936 (Passed) Passed the House on April 9, 1936 (Passed) Reported by the joint conference committee on April 13, 1936; agreed to by the House on May 14, 1936 (Agreed) and by the Senate on May 15, 1936 (Agreed) Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 20, 1936

The funding was channeled through cooperative electric power companies, hundreds of which still exist today.[1] These member-owned cooperatives purchased power on a wholesale basis and distributed it using their own network of transmission and distribution lines. The Rural Electrification Act was one of many New Deal proposals by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to remedy high unemployment during the Great Depression.