Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation provides power to more than 67,000 members located in 10 counties (Burke, Catawba, Caldwell, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk and Rutherford) in the Southwestern Piedmont region of North Carolina. The cooperative (which had a membership of only 394 in 1938, but grew rapidly after WWII) owns and maintains about 7,000 miles of power line. Rutherford Electric has total assets of more than $300 million. The cooperative is a member of the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives network.