MVEC provides reliable electric service to 47,000+ members across a 968-square-mile service area, encompassing nine counties: Blue Earth, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Le Sueur, Rice, Scott, Sibley, and Waseca. In the 1930s, only the most affluent farmers and those near towns could get “the electric.” The majority of rural people worked and lived without power and light. President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped bring electricity to rural areas as part of his New Deal legislation. On March 6, 1937, three electric organizations from Scott, Carver and LeSueur counties – that did not have the support to make it on their own – were incorporated as The Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative.