Lebanon businessman leads state’s electric co-ops

For more than 30 years, Lowrance has been affiliated with Laclede Electric Cooperative, which provides electricity to about 30,000 rural residents in Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Pulaski, Webster and Wright counties. He currently serves on the co-op’s board of directors as secretary and has been a director since 1972.

Lowrance is a bail bondsman and a well-known race car driver who was formerly the track champion at Lebanon’s I-44 Speedway.

Electric growth

In his time on the Laclede Electric board, Lowrance has seen the co-op grow into a major operation with more than $125 million in assets and 4,981 miles of electric transmission line.

Lowrance is the first person to serve two terms as president of AMEC, a Jefferson City-based service organization that represents the state’s 47 electric co-ops. The association was formed in 1937 to advance the co-ops’ interests in the state’s capital.

The co-ops are member-owned, not-for-profit organizations that supply electricity to rural areas not served by power companies. Members are elected to serve on a board of directors that oversees the co-op’s operation and budget.

“We exist to do things the electric cooperatives can’t afford to do on their own,” said Jim McCarty, director of AMEC’s communications department and editor of Rural Missouri, a statewide publication for electric co-ops.

Lowrance is chairman of AMEC’s political action committee, which makes campaign contributions to state legislators who support electric co-ops. He has also participated in the annual National Rural Electric Cooperative Legislative Conference, a grassroots effort to lobby lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

“We are seeing tremendous increase in demand for electricity across the state,” Lowrance said in a news release. “Our statewide association is working in the legislative arena to ensure we can meet this need in a cost-effective manner.”

Missouri’s electric co-op members are demanding about 100 megawatts more each year.

Several projects are in the works to meet the increased demand, including the construction of three $80 million wind energy farms in northwest Missouri. Springfield-based Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., which supplies electric co-ops in Missouri, southeast Iowa and northeast Oklahoma, has agreed to purchase power from the wind energy farms for the next 20 years.

St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group is financing the commercial wind energy project with capital from John Deere Credit, a subsidiary of the agricultural equipment manufacturer. Attorney Tom Carnahan, son of the late Gov. Mel Carnahan and U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, is the president of the group.

Electric co-op activist

Lowrance has also served on the board of the Missouri Electric Cooperatives Insurance Plan, an organization that provides electric co-ops with low-cost workers’ compensation insurance. The organization has saved electric cooperatives more than $3 million to date, according to the release.

McCarty said Lowrance is “extremely well-known” throughout the state for his coalition-building efforts.

“The electric cooperatives are like a big family in Missouri, but sometimes we’re divided about how to approach a certain issue,” he added.

AMEC Vice President Bill Shiveley was also complimentary of Lowrance. Shiveley, general manager of Cassville-based Barry Electric Cooperative, described Lowrance as a “strong advocate of electric co-ops,” who actively supported legislation designed to prevent eminent domain abuse.

“I think that Carl’s whole emphasis is that the association does the best job it can in providing service to its members,” Shiveley said.