DS&O Electric Cooperative is an electric utility located in Solomon, Kansas. It was established during the Great Depression as part of the federal recovery effort to bring the advantages and economic stimulus of electric power to rural Kansas, and it has been serving it's members in Central Kansas ever since.
In December 1936, farmers from the townships of Dickinson, Saline, and Ottawa counties organized survey teams to determine the number of households and businesses that would use electricity. The positive response to this survey led to the formation of DS&O Electric Cooperative. DS&O obtained the first REA loan in Kansas on April 10, 1937. This loan, in the amount of $254,651, allowed the cooperative to build the infrastructure to serve its initial 647 consumers. In 1991, Smoky Valley Electric Cooperative in Lindsborg, Kansas, merged with DS&O, adding to the Cooperative's service territory and member base.
Today the Cooperative serves approximately 8,500 residential and commercial meters in some thirty communities spread throughout a nine-county area in Central Kansas. Its service area extends from Junction City to McPherson and from Glasco to Lost Springs. This area includes the City of Solomon and certain areas within the city limits of Junction City. The majority of residential customers continue to be found in Dickinson, Saline, and Ottawa counties. Significant numbers are also in Geary and McPherson counties.
DS&O understands the critical importance of its role in providing reliable, reasonably priced services to the members and communities it serves.