Rural Utilities Service
Encyclopedia : R : RU : RUR : Rural Utilities Service
The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was a department of the United States federal government created on 11 May 1935 through efforts of the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The REA's task was to promote electrification in rural areas, which in the 1930s rarely were provided with electricity due to the cost of stringing electric lines to farmsteads. Many were critical of the decision, in particular private electricity utilities, who argued that the government had no right to compete with private enterprise (though many of those utilities refused to extend their lines to rural areas, claiming lack of potential profitability as the reason). By 1939 the REA served 288,000 households with electricity, prompting private business to extend their services into the countryside as well. By the end of the decade, a quarter of rural homes had power, up from around 10% in 1930.
As the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) it is still a federal government agency of the U.S. government, charged with providing public utilities (electricity, telephone, water, sewer) to rural areas through public-private partnerships. It is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Related federal legislation
- 1944 - Rural Electrification Act Amendments PL 78-425, 78-563
- 1949 - Rural Electrification Act Amendments PL 81-423
- 1961 - Area Redevelopment Act PL 87-27
- 1961 - Housing Act PL 87-90
- 1962 - Rural Electrification Act Amendments PL 87-862
- 1965 - Appalachian Regional Development Act PL 89-4
- 1965 - Department of Housing and Urban Development PL 89-174
- 1966 - Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act PL 89-754
- 1972 - Rural Development Act PL 92-419
External links
- [Article on the REA from EH.NET's Encyclopedia]
- "[Rural Development Utilities Programs]." Accessed November 23, 2005.
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