50 CHAPTER | 3 U.S. Electric Markets, Structure, and Regulations customers in lieu of profits to particular groups of preferred customers representing a level of price supports. An exception to this is the TVA, which was estimated by the Energy Information Administration to have had higher wholesale prices than neighboring utilities in 2006. Rural Electric Cooperatives In the 1920s and 1930s as the electric grid evolved in the United States, it became readily apparent that investor-owned utilities had little interest in build- ing distribution systems in sparsely populated rural areas. To promote agricul- ture and quality of life in these rural areas, the federal government created the Rural Electrification Administration in 1936, which provided for the creation of rural electric cooperatives. Rural electric cooperatives are customer-owned elec- tric utilities that provide electricity to end users in their service territories. They are largely in rural areas, and cooperatives are organized under state law and subject to the following: Cost-based operations (i.e., no profit incentive). Members (owner­customers) are entitled to receive a return of, but not a return on, capital contributed to the organization. Governance is based on a one-member-one vote. (The board of directors is