Page 8 - PCCAJournal3rdQuarter2011

PCCA Journal|3 rd Quarter 2011 8

RDUP News

Continued from page 7 USDA Announces Funding for Rural Electric Infrastructure A

griculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Sep-tember 15 announced that 27 rural electric cooperative utilities will receive funding for generation and transmission projects, dis-tribution facilities, and smart grid technolo-gies. These loans will create jobs and finance rural electric utility improvements benefiting more than 28,000 rural customers in 18 states. A similar announcement in August affected 19,000 customers in 14 states.

Vilsack noted that USDA Rural Development is providing more than $35 million to finance smart grid technologies,

such as advanced metering infrastructure, that utilities use to better manage electric supply and demand. The $603 million in loans are being provided by USDA Rural Development’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to help electric utilities up-grade, expand, maintain, and replace rural America’s electric infrastructure. RUS funding will help build or improve nearly 5,000 miles of distribution line and more than 100 miles of transmission line.

The following is a list of rural utilities that were selected to receive USDA funding. Funding is contingent upon the recipi-ent meeting the terms of the loan agreement.