created in as part of the new deal the rural electrification administration rea spearheaded the electric cooperative corporation act passed by congress in by funds made available by rea to cooperatives to build lines and provide service on a notforprofit basis allowed electricity access to more than per cent of united states farms by cooperatives served per cent of national consumers million people in states in a highly complex and increasingly multidimensional sector many of these institutions are thus unlikely to possess mature regulatory skills or the high level of expertise and access to resources and information required for effective use of regulatory tools