The Power of Connections

organizations and to initiate regular contact with local, regional, and state economic development professionals,” says Hurd. “Building relationships with those individuals and organizations has proven to be the best way for CREC to have opportunities to serve some of these projects.” Economic development continues to be a focus for Cuivre River Electric to attract new businesses to its service area. The consistent population growth within CREC’s service area has been another factor that played a major role in expanding the co-op’s commercial and industrial load. The most significant growth has come especially in the I-64 corridor in St. Charles County, the city of O’Fallon, and the city of Lake Saint Louis. Notable economic development successes during this period include Enterprise Rent A-Car’s North American data processing center in Weldon Spring, the “Verizon” buildings in Weldon Spring, the National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) campus in Lake Saint Louis, St. Charles Community College in Cottleville, numerous commercial areas around the I-64 corridor/Highway N area in the cities of Lake Saint Louis and O’Fallon, EPC computer recycling operation in Wright City outside of Gateway West, and Interstate Metal in Jonesburg. In 2020, more than 19 percent of the kilowatt-hours sold by CREC served commercial and industrial members.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car Data Center and NISC are two of CREC’s commercial loads in St. Charles County.

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