Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative

About Village of Cadott

About Village of Cadott

Established in 1865, the Village of Cadott (Cadott) is governed by an elected seven-member board. Cadott first brought electricity to its residents in the early 1900s. Today, the Cadott electric system consists of 22 miles of line serving more than 840 electric customers. The electric system has one substation that takes wholesale electric power and distributes it to Cadott electric consumers.

The Cadott electric system has about $1.5 million in outstanding bonds which would be retired with the proceeds from the proposed agreement with CVEC. Any investment of the magnitude necessary to go it alone would require the placement of new bonds to fund the investment.

Cadott operated and maintained its electric system with its own staff until it was no longer able to afford the compensation levels required to recruit and retain experienced linemen. In 2017, Cadott formally engaged Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative to use its crews to operate and maintain the electric system.

The Cadott electric system’s operating voltage is 4,160. That operating voltage is a relic of the mid-1900s electric industry where modern systems today operate at three times that voltage. Higher operating voltage allows more capacity to serve existing and future users. Finding spare parts that operate at the 4,160 voltage is nearly impossible so the risk of an extended outage due to lack of replacement parts becomes more real every day.

Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative

About Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative

About Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative

Established in 1936, Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative (CVEC) is governed by an elected seven-member board of directors. The cooperative has about 23 employees who maintain and operate more than 1,200 miles of overhead and underground line that serves nearly 7,000 members.

CVEC is one of 25 electric cooperatives in Wisconsin, delivering electric service to nearly 600,000 members throughout many of the state’s more rural communities. The Roosevelt administration established the Rural Electrification Administration in 1935, and the Electric Cooperative Corporation Act passed in 1937, when it became apparent that investor-owned utilities deemed it not profitable enough to serve the less dense rural areas. Cooperatives operate according to a set of core principles and values:

  1. Open and voluntary membership
  2. Democratic member control
  3. Members’ economic participation
  4. Autonomy and independence
  5. Education, training and information
  6. Cooperation among cooperatives
  7. Concern for community

  1. Open and voluntary membership
  2. Democratic member control
  3. Members’ economic participation
  4. Autonomy and independence
  5. Education, training and information
  6. Cooperation among cooperatives
  7. Concern for community