Wisconsin electric cooperatives developed a uniform statewide farm wiring program entitled Safety First!.  The purpose is to assist dairy farmers with the cost of rewiring projects and to promote safety.

Loans and Grants

  • A loan/grant combination is available up to $30,000

  • Grants are available for 20% or up to $6,000 from the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association

  • Loans are available for 80% or up to $24,000 from your energy cooperative

  • Up to 5 years to repay

  • 3% interest

Requirements

  • Dairy farms only

  • Existing farmstead on Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services electric lines

  • Pre-program inspection

  • Electrician's estimate

  • Service agreement for length of loan

  • Credit eligibility requirements

Loan/Grant Application Form      Electrical Inspection Certificate

DairyFarm

The monthly loan payment will be included on your electric bill.

Yes.  A service agreement, indicating that you will receive energy from your electric cooperative for the duration of the loan, is required.

Yes, 20% of the total cost of the project, up to $5,000, is available without application for a loan.

Members cannot have more than one late payment within the past 12 months.

You can choose your electrician as long as he/she is a qualified* electrician.

*See co-op for definition of qualified electrician.

No.  Only existing structures are eligible.  New barns must be wired according to the latest version of the code.

Yes, if the service for the barn is served from the main panel in the house.

Yes.

If you're delinquent on your loan (for 2 consecutive months), the loan will become due and payable immediately.  The electric service may be subject to disconnection.

Yes.  Pre- and post-inspections, by an approved State-Certified Inspector, are required for the loan.  However, Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services will pay the costs of these inspections.  The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filing fee will be your responsibility.

Grant money will be given after a post-inspection, when the wiring work is completed according to National Electric Code (NEC), and all of the invoices and the wiring affidavit are given to your energy cooperative.

Yes.  The rewiring project serves as collateral for the loan.

Download an application.  Then contact Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services.  We will schedule an appointment with an approved State-certified inspector and one of our representatives will help determine the extent of the project.  You choose an approved qualified* electrician to give you a bid on the project and provide us a copy of the bid.  If the bid meets the loan/grant requirements, the project is given preliminary approval.

 

*See co-op for definition of qualified electrician.

We schedule the State-Certified Inspector to inspect the work and he/she provides written documentation that the work was completed according to the NEC.  You provide us with the invoices from the electrician and an Electrical Inspection Certificate.  You choose if you want us to pay the electrician or the electrician and yourself.  We send a check request for the grant money and you choose to whom you want the check payable to - the electrician or the electrician and yourself.

Labor and materials needed to rewire the farm are covered.  Isolation transformers, rings of life, and other systems not defined in the NEC are not eligible expenses under this program.

Wisconsin Electric Cooperatives contribute funds towards the grant money.