Midwest Energy, Inc. was formed in 1981 from the rare acquisition of an investor owned utility, Central Kansas Power (CKP), by an electric cooperative. CKP had been a subsidiary of United Telecommunications, Inc. (UTI) and its predecessors for over half a century. (United Telecommunications was more commonly known as United Telephone, and today is affiliated with Sprint Corporation.) On October 19, 1977, UTI agreed to sell all its CKP stock to Central Kansas Electric Cooperative (CKEC).