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Legislative Watch

Cable TV Companies Seek Subsidy from EMC Customer-Owners

January 28, 2010

A proposal in the Georgia Senate seeks to burden Walton EMC customer-owners with increased costs so cable TV companies can run new lines.

Not only does the proposed bill mandate EMCs to provide infrastructure for new cable lines below cost; it also adds new oversight and additional government regulation for the process, which also ultimately costs you more money.

Additionally, it forces EMCs to complete the work on the cable companies' timetable, possibly postponing critical repairs and improvements to our electric system and your electric service.

Agreements for this process are already in place between EMCs and cable companies as negotiated just 20 months ago.

"During this slow economy, our legislators have more important issues than rehashing something that's already been resolved," said Walton EMC CEO Ronnie Lee. "We need our customer-owners to let their representatives know they don't want this bad legislation."

Please contact your state senator and Lt. Governor Cagle today using the contact information below and ask them to oppose the Cable Television Association of Georgia pole attachment bill.

Read the bill here. (PDF)

Find your state senator here.

Email links:

Electricity Reliability Clock Is Ticking

In only seven short years 1.1 million new people will call Georgia home, bringing our state's population to just under 10 million.

That puts even more pressure on the infrastructure we use to provide essential services-clean water, uncongested streets and, of course, plenty of electricity.

Through the high growth 90s, Georgia's EMCs worked hard to keep up with the 47 percent rise in the demand for electric power. And we can't blame all the increase on newcomers; all of us played a role every time we plugged in a new electric appliance or electronic device.

Electricity can't be stored on a shelf like other consumer products. We have to be ready to meet the demand well before it occurs.

Georgia's EMCs keep up with that demand through careful planning and efficient construction of generation, transmission and distribution facilities, the three pieces required for the reliable delivery of electricity.

The backbone of the system is a network of high voltage transmission lines that carry the power from generating plants to local distribution substations. Transmission lines do their job so well that most of us don't even think about them. As the demand for electricity grows-it's expected to jump 25 percent by 2010-opposition to some new transmission lines is also growing.

Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC), the cooperative that transports power on those lines to Georgia's EMCs, built over 90 miles of transmission lines in the last two years. In the course of building these projects, GTC eagerly listened to anyone with questions or suggestions.

It's simple: if Georgia is to avoid outages and blackouts in 2010, we must continue to upgrade and expand the present transmission system. To prepare to meet the demand and keep your lights on, GTC expects to invest more than $125 million every year. None of us want to endure horrors like the ones California's electric consumers experienced a short time ago.

Not everybody wants those new lines built near their property. Some are even urging the General Assembly to pass new mandates that could result in delaying the construction of needed new transmission lines. For their part, EMC leaders are urging the Legislature to move cautiously in considering any new law that would affect the ability of Georgia's electric utilities to meet the exploding demand for electricity.

The utilities are obligated to plan ahead so they can meet the growing demand for electricity and maintain high standards of reliability.

Present EMC consumer-owners already depend on those high standards 24 hours a day so they can be productive at work and comfortable at home.

So will 1.1 million new Georgians in 2010.

Read more about transmission projects at Georgia Transmission Corporation.

Urgent call to action for customer-owners

Visit ourenergy.coop to be heard.

Pressure is mounting in Congress to do something about climate change. While political debates in Washington, D.C. may seem far away, the outcome will have a direct impact on our cooperative-and on you, the customer-owner.

Climate change is just one aspect of a looming energy crisis created by increasing electrical demand and decreasing electrical capacity. Experts now say some areas of the country will be short of power within one or two years.

But energy supply isn't an issue our elected representatives are spending a lot of time on. These forces, the desire by government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly and the growing demand for power by consumers, are about to collide.

Some people say we can meet demand through efficiency and renewable energy. The reality is we need all the efficiency and renewable energy we can get-but that won't be enough.

To avert an energy crisis, the federal government must exercise true leadership, the same leadership that got Americans to the moon in the 1960s. Without that leadership-and a sound, responsible plan-government risks not only the reliability of our electric system, but literally the ability of many Americans to be able to afford to pay their electric bill.

All of us, as electric co-op customer-owners and constituents, must call on elected officials to provide this leadership. That's why we encourage you to contact your elected officials.

You don't need to be an energy expert to ask questions. Asking questions helps find the answers to solve the problem of balancing climate change goals with keeping your lights on and your electric bills affordable.

Right now, members of Congress as well as state elected officials are hearing from lots of different interest groups who have ideas about how to address climate change. But no one is talking to consumers. We need a plan people can live with today while we deal with the climate change problem of tomorrow.

To make things easy, we have a website that will send an email for you. Go to ourenergy.coop and plug in your address. You'll be able to ask a series of questions to your representatives in Washington. We're kicking this effort off with a basic but critical question: What are they doing to make sure we'll have the power we need in the future?

Far too often, policy makers don't ask questions until plans go wrong. We believe it makes sense to know the answers before the laws are passed. You can help your elected officials and yourself by having this conversation. The electric bill you save will be your own.

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