SA Power

Credit Union SA began in October 2009 but it’s genesis in South Australian public service credit unions goes back over nearly 70 years.

The public service has been fertile ground for credit union development in Australia over the course of the last 70 years. This has been aided by the fact that government agencies often have large and stable workforces over long periods with opportunities to cooperate.

This workforce had the same impetus as the rest of the community for starting credit unions – including difficulties accessing reputable finance at reasonable rates of interest. In the late 1960s, state electricity workers in South Australia were in this position and decided to start a credit union that lives on today in Credit Union SA.

The Electricity Trust of South Australia, or ETSA as it was generally known, was the public agency that ran power generation and supply for the people of South Australia from 1946 to 1999 when it was privatised.

ETSA Employees Credit Union was registered in 1970 with a bond to serve South Australian power workers. South Australia is a big state with small pockets of remote communities. Electricity being a ubiquitous commodity aided in the success of the credit union’s growth throughout South Australia.

In 1972, just two years after launching from Adelaide, ETSA Employees CU opened a branch in Port Augusta. The branch doubled as an agency for CPS Credit Union SA, who’s members were South Australian public servants too.

Eventually the bond of the credit union was opened to those not in the direct employ of South Australia’s power industry. Research showed that the name “ETSA Employees Credit Union” didn’t fit well with expansion plans and was changed to PowerState Credit Union in 1993.

In 2009, PowerState Credit Union merged with Satisfac Direct Credit Union which was started by South Australian teachers way back in 1958. The emergent entity Credit Union SA was strong and remains so today.