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Electric co-ops speak with one voice on Capitol Hill

Georgia’s electric membership corporations, including Coweta-Fayette EMC, united in Washington, D.C. in an impressive display of co-op strength.

Approximately 3,000 co-op leaders from across the country, including more than 250 EMC representatives in Georgia, took part in the 2005 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Legislative Conference.

During the three-day event, EMC directors and management met with members of congress to brief them on federal issues critical to the success of electric co-ops in Georgia and across the United States.

According to Michael Whiteside, President & CEO with Coweta-Fayette EMC, the purpose of the conference was to encourage lawmakers to protect the needs of EMC consumers who might be adversely impacted by electricity legislation pending in Congress.

“It’s our job to remind lawmakers that legislation currently under review has the potential to negatively impact cooperative customers,” said Whiteside.

Key issues for discussion in the 106th Congress include the 2005 Energy Bill, hours of service regulations, Rural Utilities Service funding, the Clear Skies initiative and power marketing administration rates.

In addition to protecting the interests of EMC consumers, the electric cooperatives extended their support to benefit members of Georgia’s military. Georgia’s 42 EMCs, including Coweta-Fayette EMC, Georgia Transmission Corporation and Oglethorpe Power Corporation donated $3,000 to the Fort Gordon Fisher House in Augusta.

In recent years, electric cooperatives in the state have made a charitable donation during the annual Legislative Conference to honor Georgia’s lawmakers. This year, the EMCs chose to contribute to the Fort Gordon Fisher House, one of many Fisher Houses built and donated by the Fisher House Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping members of the military and their families.

The Foundation donates “comfort homes” built on the grounds of major military facilities and VA medical centers.

The check was presented to members of Georgia’s delegation on Wednesday during the Conference and will be used to cover operational costs of the Fisher House located near the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon.

Since Georgia is home to thousands of service men and women, 13 military installations and one Fisher House location, representatives of the state’s 42 electric cooperatives see first-hand the sacrifices made by military personnel.

Coweta-Fayette EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to 65,000 consumers in Coweta, Fayette, South Fulton, Clayton, Heard, Troop, Spalding and Meriwether counties.

Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state’s 42 EMCs, Oglethorpe Power Corporation and Georgia Transmission Corporation. Through this statewide network, the 42 EMCs provide electricity and related services to four million people, nearly half of Georgia’s population, across 73 percent of the state’s land area. Georgia’s 42 electric membership cooperatives now serve more customers than any other state network of EMCs in the nation.