Our Cooperative

Clearwater Power is a member-owned rural electric cooperative. Founded in 1937, we serve 11 counties throughout Idaho, Washington, and Oregon on a not-for-profit basis.

Our mission is to provide our Members with safe, reliable, cost-based energy and related services.


As a Member of Clearwater Power


Membership & Service Territory Statistics

(as of 12/31/2021)

  • Power truck driving by a crowd waiving an American flag.Members — 8,400
  • Meters — 11,300
  • Poles — 42,000
  • Miles of Line — 2,946
  • Accounts per Mile of Line — 3.80
  • Acres of Right-of-Way — Over 10,000
  • Total Capital Credit Refunds — Appx. $13 Million

Our Electricity

Clearwater Power is a distribution cooperative. We are able to pool our purchasing power with several other northwest utilities through PNGC Power. Visit the PNGC Power website. Our source of wholesale electricity is Bonneville Power Administration. Visit the Bonneville Power Administration website


Fuel Mix Disclosure

Clearwater Power BPA Fuel Mix 2022

Type Percentage
Hydroelectric 84.7%
Nuclear 11%
Non-Specified 4%
Wind .4%

Source: Bonneville Power Administration

U.S. Electric Generation Mix 2022

Type Percentage
Natural Gas 39.8%
Coal 19.5%
Nuclear 18.2%
Hydroelectric 6.2%
Wind 10.2%
Solar 3.4%
Biomass 1.3%
Petroleum .6%
Other 0.3%
Geothermal  .4%

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration


Service Area

Clearwater Power Company serves 11 counties in 3 states. View our Service Area Map (PDF)

Idaho:

  • Benewah
  • Clearwater
  • Idaho
  • Latah
  • Lewis
  • Nez Perce
  • Shoshone

Washington:

  • Asotin
  • Garfield
  • Whitman

Oregon:

  • Wallowa

Our History

In the 1920s and 30s, American cities were lighting up with electricity. But farms and rural areas were getting left behind. Investor-owned utilities didn’t see any profit in delivering power to small towns and farms, so, most of the nation’s farms were left without power.

In 1936, Kenneth Summers (manager at the Lenore Grain and Seed Grower’s Co-op), set out to bring electricity to his home town of Lenore, Idaho. The nearest power line was miles away and despite repeated requests to the local electric utility, no reasonable agreement could be reached. Mr. Summers, along with R.H. Wallace of Lapwai and L.P. Teats of Reubens, took matters into their own hands and petitioned the Federal Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to support them in forming their own electric cooperative. By April of 1937, Clearwater Valley Light and Power was born.

Over the following decades, they did what they set out to do – bring needed electricity from distant points to their neighbors and friends, to places where nobody else wanted to go. Clearwater Power has brought power to 10,000 homes and businesses stretching from St. Maries, Idaho to Troy, Oregon; and from Garfield, Washington to Weippe, Idaho. Building over 2,800 miles of line in some of the nation’s most rugged terrain, on behalf of sometimes only 3 customers per mile of expensive line, was hard and took a commitment only a neighbor-owned cooperative was willing to provide. We are proud to say that the cooperative spirit lives on today.