DREMC to get $47.5M in federal loans

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Wednesday that Shelbyville-based Duck River Electric Membership Corp. will receive $47.5 million in federal loans to build and repair its distribution and transmission lines.

"It's actually fairly routine," said DREMC president and CEO Jim Allison. Allison explained that every four years, DREMC puts together a plan of work and submits a request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utility Service.

"These are funds that we will use to provide the infrastructure to serve growth in our service area over the next four years," said Allison, including distribution lines, poles, substations, and so on.

The $47.5 million is considerably larger than the last loan package, approved four years ago. Allison said costs have risen, but he explained that the utility's actual borrowing will depend on the level of growth in DREMC's 15-county service area.

"There's nothing that says we're going to borrow the whole 47.5," Allison said. "We will just borrow what we need."

DREMC is one of three rural utilities in Tennessee and one of 46 nationwide receiving the loans, which will total $1.16 billion and affect 11,249 miles of transmission lines across the U.S. affecting 109,250 rural customers.

"Our rural communities need reliable, affordable electric service to support business expansion and broaden economic opportunities, and President Obama is delivering on his commitment to invest in America's infrastructure and create jobs," Vilsack said. "These loans will spur growth in rural America by helping cooperatives and rural utilities deliver improved service to more customers."

Tennessee will receive a total of $75.5 million in loans. In addition to DREMC, Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative will receive a $15 million loan and Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative a $13 million loan.

The program is through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development program. Rural Development works with home ownership, affordable rental housing, business development, and infrastructure.

Rural Development contacts in Tennessee may be found at www.rurdev.usda.gov/tn.