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Our Story
Our story began in 1939 when men and women in rural Southwestern Illinois wanted to deliver safe, reliable power to their friends and families. Our organization has changed a lot in 85 years, but our guiding principles remain the same: Working for Southwestern Electric means serving your neighbors, family and friends.
Southwestern Electric offers competitive pay, excellent benefits, careers with top-notch training, and opportunities to move into new jobs that reflect your growing skills and interests. We provide a safe work environment, job security, work/life balance, and health programs that promote the physical, mental and emotional well-being of you and your family.
Southwestern Electric is about people, possibility and progress--and yes, for about 25,000 families and businesses in Southwestern Illinois, we keep the lights on.
Our co-op has spent 85 years living a great story. If you’re interested in serving the people of Southwestern Illinois, you can help us write the next chapter.
Our Culture
We’re serious about our work, but we know how to have fun. We value laughter, comradery and community contribution.
We bring everyone together for monthly all-employee meetings and in-house trainings. We coordinate health fairs, blood drives, employee picnics and holiday parties. We shut down the office for a day and dedicate it to SAFETY TRAINING with our families. And we cheer on our crews at the LINEWORKER'S RODEO, and greet members at our ANNUAL MEETING.
We also come together to support our local communities and youth through Halloween parades, touch-a-truck events, scholarship presentations and YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR workshops.
We celebrate birthdays, recognize retirements, and sometimes we just have lunch. Your family will have ample opportunity to meet your coworkers.
We offer competitive pay, excellent benefits, careers with top-notch training, and opportunities to move into new jobs that reflect your skills and interests.
We’re blessed to be part of a team that empowers schools, healthcare facilities, businesses, industries, and families. If you think you hear a little pride in that statement, you’re right!
Our Promise
When wind and ice left residents of Southern Illinois without power in January 2025, we were there. When Hurricane Helene made landfall on the Gulf Coast in September 2024, we were there. When storms slammed Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana and other states across the years, we were there.
Southwestern Electric is part of a national network of cooperatives that share seven founding principles, Cooperation Among Cooperatives being one of them. We support each other in good times and help each other through the bad. Closer to home, we're a member of the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives (AIEC), a statewide trade organization. AIEC coordinates emergency response teams, helping us respond quickly to calls for assistance from our neighbors across the county line, around the state, or across the country.
Helping each other is what we do.
There are more than 900 electric co-ops across in the U.S. People sometimes ask if we’re contractually obligated to help each other. It isn’t a contract. It’s a covenant. A promise built on a principle. We’re electric cooperatives. Helping each other is what we do.
Salary & Benefits
At Southwestern Electric, we listen to each other, learn from each other, and grow together.
While we honor co-op traditions, as a group, we’re committed to developing new ideas, embracing innovation, and living a service ethic second to none.
Our members see that in the way we respond to their questions, in how we deliver vital services, in the diligence we bring to building and maintaining power lines, and in the quick but safe and conscientious manner we restore heat and light after storms.
We owe our success to our employees.
At our co-op, employees are family.
We take care of family.
In addition to an excellent work environment, we provide an exceptional combination of benefits and compensation. We’re proud to be a unionized workforce represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - Local 702.
Below you'll find a list of benefits that come with being part of our family.
- Competitive Pay
- 401k plan w/company contributions
- 30-Year pension plan
- Fully paid family medical, dental & vision insurance
- Health Savings Account
- 125 Plan Flexible Spending & Dependent Care Accounts
- Employee Assistance Program
- PTO & Holidays
- Flexible and remote work options
- On site skills building
- Educational assistance
- Employee training
- Safety education
- Inclusive environment
- Meaningful work
- Exciting challenges
- Collaborative environment
- Forward-facing technologies
Southwestern Electric Cooperative, Inc. (SWECI) is an equal employment opportunity employer. In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions at SWECI will be based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. SWECI does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of age, race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other protected classification, in compliance with federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, SWECI does not discriminate against any applicant or employee on the basis of a disability. SWECI will make reasonable accommodations, including modifications of cooperative policies and procedures in appropriate cases, for qualified individuals with disabilities, if such modifications do not cause the co-op undue hardship.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to selection, job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, placement, promotion, layoff, recall, transfer, leave of absences, and access to benefits and training.
Any employees with questions or concerns about any type of discrimination in the workplace are encouraged to bring these issues to the attention of their immediate supervisor or the Director of Human Resources. Employees can raise concerns and make reports without fear of reprisal. Anyone found to be engaging in any type of unlawful discrimination will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.