About Us

BARC’s Mission:

To improve the quality of life in the communities we serve.

Values:

  • Integrity: Always do the right thing.
  • Respectful: Treat others the way you want to be treated.
  • Member-Driven: Service is what we do.
  • Dependable: You can count on me.
  • Excellence: Excellence in everything we do.
  • Innovative: Seek a better way.

BARC is a member-owned utility that provides electric service to about 13,000 connections across five counties in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia including Bath, Alleghany, Augusta, Highland and Rockbridge. The cooperative was formed in 1938 as part of the Rural Electrification Act addressing the need for electricity to residents in rural areas.

The Cooperative was granted its Certificate of Incorporation on April 19, 1938, and set about obtaining applications for electric service, membership fees, incorporation and necessary financing to begin construction. BARC held its first annual meeting of members in Lexington, Virginia in 1939, and in 1940, additional financing was approved to build an additional 182 miles of electric line providing service to farmers in the five counties it still serves today, connecting 1,008 electric meters.

Today, BARC operates and maintains more than 2,100 miles of power lines through its service territory that is located between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Alleghany Mountains. BARC serves a variety of residential and commercial accounts and provides electricity to familiar names such as The Omni Homestead Resort, Speyside Bourbon Stave Mill and Fort Lewis Lodge.

The cooperative is guided by a board of directors, also member-owners of BARC covering 7 districts, who are elected by BARC’s other members during the annual meeting. Directors serve three-year terms. To continue to serve and meet the needs of its members, in 2017 BARC began providing high-speed Internet, telephone and television service through BARC Connects, its wholly-owned fiber-to-the-home subsidiary.

BARC constructed the first community solar garden in the Commonwealth and launched its SolarizeBARC program in 2019. In addition to community solar, the program offers affordable onsite solar solutions and will add new offerings in 2021 as the part of the cooperative’s mission towards sustainability.