For over 79 years Big Bend Electric Coop has been supplying power to the rural areas of Franklin and Adams counties. Being a cooperative they are owned by those they serve – the community. They provide power for residential, commercial, agriculture and irrigation. They provide energy efficiency and energy saving tips that are available on their website as well as online bill pay and account management.
Big Bend give back to the community by offering college scholarships to high school seniors every year. Each scholarship is worth $500 a year for 4 years of continuing education. They also annually award 2 youth applicants to participate in a Washington DC tour in June and to attend the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Youth Tour. This tour program supports the cooperative principle of education, training and information to the next generation youth. Youth will compete in Washington DC against other Washington State youth to be the youth representative of Washington at the annual NRECA meeting. High school students are also able to job shadow Big Bend employees; Power Lineman, Accounting, Engineering and Member Services are the positions that are open for job shadow students to get more insight on the company and career day to day duties. Big Bend also created a non-profit group called Caring Neighbors – this group allows them to give back to other non-profit organizations in the community. For more information on college scholarships, the youth tour, job shadowing and Caring Neighbors check the website bbec.org
The main office is in Ritzville located at 1373 N Hwy 261 and they also have an Operations Center in Mesa. Big Bend has just 39 employees, relatively small for offering such important and widespread services. The mailing address is PO Box 348 Ritzville WA 99169. The office is open Monday to Thursdays from 7:00am-5:30pm. You can reach the office by calling 509-659-1700 or toll free at 866-844-2363. And always remember CALL BEFORE YOU DIG – it will save a life, your property, your money and it’s the law. Simply dial 811.
