Repower REC

Repower REC is a grassroots coalition of concerned Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) member-owners working in partnership with Solar United Neighbors of Virginia, a grassroots nonprofit organization that helps homeowners go solar. Learn more below and on our blog.

Sign the Petition on: Broadband, Economic relief, & Ending Unfair REC Board Elections

Tell the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) that you want REC to provide broadband to REC members, return deposits early and increase capital credit payments, and oppose the unfair system it uses to choose board members. Sign this petition and tell REC to commit to broadband, economic relief, and end its unfair blank proxy voting system now! Click here to read the full petition.

Our purpose is simple: To promote a more transparent and democratic REC by helping our fellow member-owners reclaim their roles as owners of a democratically controlled enterprise, and to advocate for the fair and equitable treatment of distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar. Join us!

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Events

Virtual Townhall on Broadband Access 2

On February 16 at 6:30pm, join Repower REC and Christopher Ali, professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, for a discussion of rural broadband internet, and the potential for cooperatives to provide high speed broadband with fiber-optic cable to the home in unserved and underserved areas. Professor Ali will discuss the differences between fiber optic cable to the home and alternatives such as as fixed-wireless internet and Starlink satellite internet. Professor Ali is a nationally recognized expert on rural broadband. His book, Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity, will be published by MIT Press this fall. markus-spiske-FrWStnBsfxI-unsplashSM

Repower REC will also provide a brief update on the Grano vs. Rappahannock Electric Co-op federal lawsuit filed last October, which REC says led it to abandon its efforts to provide broadband in its service territory. The suit challenges a 2020 Virginia law (SB794), which allows electric utilities to use existing easements to provide fiber optic cable for high-speed internet services.

Register here

Virtual Townhall on Broadband Access

On Wednesday August 5th Repower REC hosted a Virtual Townhall on Broadband internet access with Seth Heald & a national broadband expert. Seth was a candidate for the Rappahannock Electric Co-op (REC) board and is advocating for the co-op to bring fiber to the homes (FTTH) of REC member-owners. We also had a national expert in broadband expansion: Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR).

If you’d like to help us organize a virtual community event near you, please contact us at: info@repowerrec.com.

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Join us

If you, as an REC member, believe that you should have a greater voice in our co-op, please join us. It’s time to reform REC to put members back in control of important decisions about board membership, electric rates, service reliability, and where our energy comes from. Join us today to make your voice heard!

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Partners

Repower REC is driven by concerned Rappahannock Electric Cooperative member-owners working to bring transparency and democracy back to their cooperative, and supported by a growing list of organizational partners including: