San Bernard Electric Cooperative had its beginning in 1939, when several leaders from Austin and Colorado Counties became interested in securing service for their farms. As a result of their efforts, the cooperative was incorporated in November of 1939.
The San Bernard Electric Cooperative derived its name from the San Bernard River, which is the common boundary between Austin and Colorado Counties. The first 89 miles of power lines were built in 1940 and energized on December 31st, 1940. They served 141 members in the rural areas of Colorado and Austin Counties. The construction was financed by a government loan through the Rural Electrification Administration (REA).
Currently the Cooperative has approximately 4,000 miles of line serving approximately 31,000 meters in parts of eight Texas counties – Austin, Colorado, Lavaca, Waller, Montgomery, Harris, Grimes, and Fayette.
General Manager, James “Billy” Marricle, came to San Bernard EC in 1981 from Floydada, Texas upon graduating from college.
Billy began his career at San Bernard EC in Technical Services before becoming System Automations Supervisor, then Technical Service Supervisor followed by Operations Manager and Electric Division Manager. In 2007, after 25 years of service at the cooperative, San Bernard EC Board of Directors, named Billy Marricle, General Manager.
Billy was instrumental in building San Bernard EC microwave systems and helped make San Bernard EC one of the first cooperatives in the state of Texas to have automated meter reading.
Most recently, Marricle is recognized by local and state officials for his commitment to San Bernard EC employees and members during Winter Storm Uri.
“I am just a small part of this cooperative,” Billy explained, “I am blessed to be a part of a business model that still recognizes people (our members) and works hard to give them a basic need [electricity], especially during adverse conditions such as Uri. The employees that make up San Bernard EC are the true heroes during the storm. I am so very proud of each of them.”
Billy’ s commitment to the membership during and after the storm comes from his childhood in Floydada and strong cooperative roots. He is a 3rd out of 4th generation cooperative employee and is an example to so many of the seven guiding principles of what makes a cooperative unique from investor-owned utilities by putting the needs of their members first.
The Marricle family line of cooperative consist of his grandfather and father, uncles and now nephew. Long before Billy came to SBEC in 1981, he would spend summers working for Lighthouse Electric where his father, James A. “Buck” served as Operations Manager before retiring in 1994.
“I’ve always kept the cooperative principles at heart when making decisions for San Bernard and our members in Bellville the past 40 years,” Billy said. “This is my home, the place where I raised my kids. I want to do what is right for my neighbors and friends.”