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42 EMCs serving more than 4.5 million of the state’s9.4 million residents
2100 East Exchange Place • Tucker, GA 30084-5336 • Phone (770) [email protected] • www.georgiaemc.com
G E O R G I A ’ S E L E C T R I C M E M B E R S H I P C O R P O R A T I O N S
DADE
WALKER
CATOOSA
WHIT
FIELD FANNIN
GILMER
GORDONPICKENS
UNION
LUMPKIN
DAWSON
FORSYTHHALL
WHITE
TOWNS
RABUN
HABERSHAM
STEPHENS
BANKS FRANKLINHART
ELBERTMADISONJACKSON
CLARKEOCONEE
OGLETHORPE
WILKES LINCOLN
COLUMBIA
McD
UFF
IE
TALIAFERRO
RICHMOND
BURKEJEFFERSON
GLASCOCK
WARREN
HANCOCK
WASHINGTON
SCREVENJENKINS
EMANUEL
BULLOCH EFFINGHAM
CHATHAMBRYAN
EVANS
LIBERTY
LONG
McINTOSH
GLYNN
WAYNE
BRANTLEY
PIERCE
CAMDENCHARLTON
WARE
CLINCH
ECHOLS
ATKINSON
LANI
ER
BERRIEN
LOWNDESBROOKS
COOK
THOMASGRADY
COLQUITTMITCHELL
DECATUR
SEM
INO
LE
MILLER
BAKEREARLY
CALHOUN DOUGHERTY WORTHTIFT
IRWINCOFFEE
BEN HILL
BACON
APPLINGJEFFDAVIS
TOOMBS
TATTNALL
CANDLERTREUTLEN
JOHNSON
LAURENS
BALDWIN
WILKINSON
TELFAIR
WHEELERDODGE
WILCOX
PULASKI
TWIGGS
HOUSTONMACON
DOOLY
CRISP
SUMTER
LEETERRELL
RANDOLPH
CLAY
WEBSTER
QUITMAN
STEWART
MARIONCHATTA-HOOCHEE
BIBB
JONES
CRAWFORD
MONROELAMAR
UPSON
PIKE
SPALDING BUTTS
TAYLOR
TALBOTHARRIS
TROUP
MERIWETH
ER
HEARDCOWETA FA
YETT
E
CARROLL
DOUGLAS
CLA
YTO
N
HENRY
DEKALB
NEWTON
COBBPAULDING
HARALSON
POLK
FLOYD
GWINNETTBARROW
WALTON
MORGAN GREENE
JASPER PUTNAM
MURRAY
MO
NTG
OM
ER
Y
BARTOW
PEACH
BLECKLEY
SCHLEY
TURNER
CHATTOOGA
ROCK
DALE
CHEROKEE
MUSCOGEE
FULTON
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Georgia Electric Membership Corporations
Georgia Power Co.
Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia
Unassigned
Electric Power Board of Chattanoogaand City of Dalton
Georgia’s EMC Service Areas
A Brief History of RuralElectrif ication in America
Most folks think the history of ruralelectrification started with the REAin the 1930s. In truth, the storybegan nearly half a century earlier –in Manhattan! In 1882, in the heartof New York City, �omas A. Edisonconstructed the first central stationelectric system. Life in the cities waschanged forever.
But it was a different story in thecountryside.
Farmers…Left in the Dark
�e vast majority of farmers andtheir families living outside citieswere literally “left in the dark.”Power companies determined thatthey could not afford to build milesof electric lines to serve just a handfulof customers in the country. Andrural Americans couldn’t afford topay to have the lines run to them.�e result was that as late as themid-1930s, only one in 10 rural homesenjoyed electric service.
Roosevelt Turns on Lights
�e stock market crash of 1929plunged America into an economicdepression the likes of which thenation had never seen. PresidentFranklin Roosevelt urged Congressto pass a number of “New Deal”programs designed to stimulate theeconomy and ease the country’seconomic woes. When theEmergency Relief Appropriation Actwas signed into law on April 8,1935, one of the eight categories of
projects eligible for funding was ruralelectrification.
President Roosevelt signed an orderon May 11, 1935 creating the RuralElectrification Administration. �eprimary function of the REA was toprovide loans to power companiesthat would use the new funds toextend lines into rural America.Unfortunately, only a few companiesapplied for these funds.
1936 Brings Birth of REA
In 1936, the Rural Electrification Actwas signed. �us was the customer-owned electric co-op born. �e Actmade the REA the chief lendingagency for 10 years, and made non-profit organizations such as coopera-tives the main target of its funds.
“the next greatest thing...”
�e story is told of the farmer who –when the lights went on at his farmfor the first time – declared, “the great-est thing on earth is to have the loveof God in your heart, and the nextgreatest thing is to have electricity inyour home.”
Today, there areabout 900 ruralelectric coopera-tives in the UnitedStates, and virtual-ly every Americanfarm has electricservice.
40 Million People ReceiveCo-op Power
Every day in America, 40 millionpeople obtain electricity from con-sumer-owned electric cooperatives.�ey can be found in 2,500 of themore than 3,141 counties in theU.S., Puerto Rico and AmericanSamoa. �ese systems own and oper-ate about half of the electric dis-tribution lines in America, providingelectricity to more than 17 millionhomes, farms, businesses, schools,churches, irrigation systems andother users. �eir assets now exceed$100 billion.
Co-ops Constantly Changing
�rough a history that now coversnearly 75 years, the co-ops havebeen constantly changing – adapting totheir markets and innovating to meetthe needs of their customer-owners.Satisfied customers enabled them togrow rapidly, eventually spreading toevery corner of the nation.
�ough many are called “rural,” electriccooperatives are not limited to farmersand rural communities. Indeed, nearlyeight of every 10 families served byelectric co-ops aren’t directly involved inagricultural pursuits.
But all have one goal: to providetheir customers with better service atlower prices.
Cooperating Co-opsSupport Georgia
�roughout their long history,Georgia’s EMCs have worked withother utilities to strengthen their com-mon ability to serve customers. �eEMCs have done much of the leadingalong the way, including the buildingof distribution lines that now reachinto 73 percent of Georgia’s land area.
In 1974, the EMCs formedOglethorpe Power Corporation, ageneration and transmission coopera-tive, to assure the delivery of electricityto parts of the state not served byGeorgia Power.
In 1975, the EMCs came to the finan-cial aid of Georgia Power with aninfusion of $513 million. Demand forelectricity was soaring, and the cooper-atives stepped in to help shoulder theburden of building new generatingunits.
EMCs became involved in PlantVogtle, a nuclear generating facility,when Georgia Power again found itselfin financial difficulty, and again turnedto the EMCs for assistance.
By 1987, the EMC investment inPlant Vogtle had grown to $2.9 bil-lion. Without the financial help ofthe EMCs, Georgia Power wouldlikely have been forced to shut downconstruction, leaving an expensivebill for its customers and sharehold-ers to pay.
Our action in coming to the aid ofGeorgia Power in the ‘70s and ‘80senabled Georgia Power to realizelower interest costs in building PlantVogtle. All utilities involved shared inthe savings that resulted from theability of the electric co-ops to bor-row at low rates.
Overcoming all the obstacles encoun-tered in building Plant Vogtle is anexcellent example of how our electricutilities have always taken a “oneGeorgia” view of electricity supply.
Bringing Plant Vogtle on line wasclearly in the best interest of allGeorgians and has enabled the entireState to reap huge economic benefits.
Nearly Half of GeorgiaʼsPopulation Served byEMCs Today
In Georgia, the 42 electric member-ship cooperatives serve approximately4.5 million residents and more than75,000 commercial and industrial
As a result of more than seven decadesof dedicated effort to improve thequality of life in rural America, manyelectric co-ops enjoy a value to theircommunities that goes beyond theirability to simply provide reliable lightand heat. Communities depend onthem for their economic developmentinitiatives, their civic leadership, andtheir commitment to local job creation.
Georgia’s electric co-ops are proud tobe considered essential corporate par-ticipants in our state’s responsiblegrowth and development.
electrificationrural
electrificationrural
customers.
