Journeyman lineworker Cade Courtemanche at work in Bastrop, left, and lineworkers, circa 1945, outside the cooperative's headquarters, then located in Giddings.
Bluebonnet is celebrating 85 years of service. Join us as we honor our past and plan for the future.
Since 1939, Bluebonnet has provided safe, reliable and affordable electric service to its fast-growing membership. Throughout the year, join us in celebrating this milestone as we honor our past and plan for the future.
For 85 years, Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative has provided power to members and communities in Central Texas. Bluebonnet originally served 1,468 members through 646 miles of power line. Today, the cooperative powers more than 133,000 meters with nearly 13,000 miles of line. In those early years, Bluebonnet’s dedicated men and women were passionate about making members’ lives better. That work ethic and commitment to the cooperative’s communities has never wavered.
Time has brought remarkable changes to Bluebonnet’s region. Populations have boomed and economies diversified. Many members carry on the tradition of farming and ranching, some following in the footsteps of previous generations, others for the first time. Communities once anchored by agriculture, or the oil and gas industry, now are home to a diverse mix of retail, commercial and industrial businesses.
Today, Bluebonnet is stronger, faster, more efficient and more reliable than ever. It has kept pace with growth using new technology and tools to improve and expand its electric system and service. Members can pay bills and monitor their electric use through the cooperative’s website or mobile app at any time. Technology allows Bluebonnet’s control center operators and lineworkers to identify outages and restore power quickly and safely. Member service representatives can rapidly answer questions and resolve concerns, in person or by phone. Safe, reliable, affordable electricity and excellent service are as important to Bluebonnet employees today as they were in August 1939. Members can trust that the cooperative will continue to uphold those commitments. It is the best way Bluebonnet can honor the legacy of its members, its workers and the communities it serves.
Bluebonnet’s first mobile substation was introduced to the fleet in 1980. It was 36 feet long and weighed 98,000 pounds. Bluebonnet purchased two mobile substations, in 2004 and 2015, and both are in service today. The 2004 model is more than 80 feet long, weighs 143,800 pounds, and can serve twice as many homes and businesses as the 1980 model. Sarah Beal photoTHEN: Francita Beyer at work at Bluebonnet's headquarters, then in Giddings, in 1958.NOW: Today, 82% of member payments are self-service. Member service representatives like Bianca Maciel are still available at Bluebonnet's five service centers, including the Lockhart location. THEN: Rodney Fritsche, a survey technician in the 1970s, helps determine the location of future power poles and lines.NOW: The 2024 equivalent of a ‘survey technician’ is a line-design technician such as Amy Beal. She talks with Jason Franks, a Lockhart-area member, about installing poles and lines on his property.THEN: In 1984, the telephone was the technology that employees such as Bud Watson used to dispatch crews to restore power. NOW: Drew Gaeke is a control center operator in the Bastrop facility, where computer systems can locate outages and help dispatch crews within minutes. THEN: A Bluebonnet field crew sets a utility pole in 1965. At that time, wooden poles, usually 35 to 45 feet tall, were typically installed manually. The introduction of digger trucks began to ease the process.NOW: Improved vehicles and tools have made the job of digging holes and placing power poles faster, more efficient and safer. One essential element that has remained unchanged are people.THEN: Herbert Mueller and Harry Namken are surrounded by transformers in a 1946 photo. Transformers performed the same function then as they do today: changing the voltage of electricity flowing through power lines.NOW: Employees Eric Sommerfield and Blake Davis look over new transformers destined for a construction site near Brenham earlier this year.THEN: Warren Le Bouef, a Bluebonnet engineering draftsman, works on a project in the Bluebonnet engineering building in Giddings more than two decades ago.NOW: Curtis Fischer and his daughter, Sarah Fischer, both system engineers at Bluebonnet, discuss plans for an upcoming subdivision in the Bluebonnet service area.THEN: After an Annual Meeting in the early 1980s, Glenn Markwardt, then a Bluebonnet business manager,
carries a 13-inch RCA color TV to the vehicle of Emma Canik, a co-op member from Giddings.NOW: Bluebonnet member Elvera Drews of Brenham won a riding mower at the 2023 Annual Meeting.
Drews says she has attended 21 Annual Meetings and this was the first time she won a prize.THEN: Before computers, databases and mobile apps, there were index cards. Every Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative member’s information was recorded on 4-by-6-inch pieces of paper. From membership certificates to payment records, a member’s history with Bluebonnet was on one of those cards. Payments were mailed, and employees opened envelopes by hand, processing one payment at a time. NOW: Brittany Machinsky, a member service representative working in Giddings, uses a computer to take care of member business today. With just a quick search and a few clicks of a computer keyboard, a member’s information is at the fingertips of a member service representative. Paper is the past, and today’s member services and billing specialists work with automated systems to ensure payments are recorded. More than 70% of Bluebonnet members use self-service options, online or by phone, to pay bills or request service. A member service representative’s role has changed with increasing numbers of members, improved technology and many self-service options. Bluebonnet’s commitment to its members, however, remains as strong as ever.THEN: Donald Bell and Bennie Bieberstein, at Bluebonnet’s Giddings headquarters in the mid-1970s, consult a map showing locations of poles and lines. For decades, Bluebonnet employees relied on paper maps. Crews tracked down outages and restored power using large books of maps carried in their service trucks. Engineers and technicians planning the growth of the co-op’s system worked from maps on walls. Representatives who took members’ calls referred to the maps to help resolve problems.NOW: Operator Bryn Janca monitors the cooperative’s electric system in the control center. Today, specially trained control-center operators use complex computer systems to identify power outages, manage restoration and constantly monitor our electric system. Line workers get information on laptop and tablet computers in order to repair and maintain more than 12,500 miles of line. Members can also use digital tools to track outages online and get text notifications on their phones. Bluebonnet’s control center operators are on the job 24/7 to ensure the cooperative provides safe and reliable power to its members.THEN: Bluebonnet employee Leta Dell Witte at work on member accounts in 1958. Since 1939, the employees of Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative have worked to serve cooperative members. In the early days, member account information was processed on cumbersome business equipment. Members spoke to representatives on operator-assisted phone calls or visited Bluebonnet’s headquarters, then in Giddings.NOW: Member service representative Celina Flores works with member Marcos Cobos in Manor. Cobos has been a member for about five years. Today, Bluebonnet memberscan choose to take care of business by computer, mobile app or on our automated phone system. The cooperative’s member service representatives are here for you, ready to answer questions about billing, payments or other Bluebonnet business, in person at our five member service centers or by phone.
THEN: Line workers, circa 1945, outside the cooperative's headquarters, then located in Giddings. Before 1939, most rural Central Texas homes and farms had no electricity. That year, the electric cooperative that became Bluebonnet began to usher in a new way of life, bringing the invisible commodity of electricity to about 1,500 people across 14 counties. NOW: Journeyman line worker Cade Courtemanche at work in Bastrop. Today, Bluebonnet’s highly trained professionals use state-of-the-art technology to keep electricity flowing to more than 129,000 meters at homes, apartments and businesses. Safety and member service remain top priorities, alongside the co-op’s commitment to support the communities it serves.
