The Power of You: A 75-Year History of Tri-County EMC

the power of you A 75 YEAR HISTORY OF TRI-COUNTY EMC

THE POWER OF YOU K I M BO N N E R & G R E G M U L L I S

A 75 YEAR HISTORY OF TRI-COUNTY EMC W RITTEN BY: K I M B O NNER & GREG MU LLIS

written by:

Tri-County EMC

“Electricity is a modern necessity of life and ought to be found in every village, every home and every farm in every part of the United States. The dedication of this Rural Electrification Administration project in Georgia is a symbol of the progress we are making — and we are not going to stop.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt AUGUST 11, 1938, BARNESVILLE, GA

P H OT O C RE D IT : N RE C A

THE POWER OF YOU A 75-YEAR HISTORY OF TRI-COUNTY EMC

written by:

K I M B O N N E R & GR E G MU LLIS

Copyright Š 2014 by Tri-County EMC All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work in any form whatsoever without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief passages in connection with a review. For information, please write: The Donning Company Publishers 184 Business Park Drive, Suite 206 Virginia Beach, VA 23462 Steve Mull, General Manager Barbara Buchanan, Office Manager Heather L. Floyd, Editor Terry Epps, Graphic Designer Kathy Adams, Imaging Artist Jennifer Elam, Project Research Coordinator Nathan Stufflebean, Marketing and Research Supervisor Katie Gardner, Marketing Assistant Lynn Walton, Project Director Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bonner, Kim. Tri-County EMC : the power of you / [Kim Bonner, Greg Mullis].

pages cm Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-57864-915-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Tri-County EMC--History. 2. Electric utilities--Georgia--History.

3. Electric cooperatives--Gerogia--History. 4. Rural electrification--Georgia--History. I. Title.

HD9685.U7T693 2014 334’.6813337932097585--dc23 2014023492 Printed in the United States of America at Walsworth Publishing Company

Contents Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 08 The Birth of REA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Early Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The 1940s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The 1950s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The 1960s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 The 1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The 1980s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 The 1990s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 The 2000s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 History of Willie Wiredhand . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Where Do We Go from Here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Acknowledgments Researching the history of Tri-County EMC and electric cooperatives was quite the adventure. What started as boxes of photos, binders of newsletters, books of board minutes, and a stack of interview notes has turned into a publication in just a matter of months. While this book shows and tells much of the history, the true story is shown by the people of the cooperative. The current employees, past employees, and members of the cooperative helped fit the pieces together so that they would tell a story.

A special thank you to the retirees and community members that participated in this project. Our appreciation goes to Joe Adams, Donald Appling, Joey Bullington, Cal Bullington, Laurie Calvert, Mary Alice Willett Norman Chambliss, Edna Comer, Bobby Davis, Jerry Greene, Faye Jernigan, Sam McElroy, Myrtice Roberts, Jerry Rowland, Billy Waller, Martha Waller, and Geraldine Williams. Your memories made this project entertaining, worthwhile, and personal.

Our hope is that this book will encourage cooperative members and employees to remember the past and appreciate the work that got us where we are today.

Kim Bonner Greg Mullis

6

Acknowledgments

Introduction There have been few things in the history of mankind that can compete with harnessing electric power. Often overnight, the extension of power lines brought light into darkness on demand and increased productivity and quality of life. There are well-told stories about Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment, Thomas Edison’s development of central station power, and Nikola Tesla’s work on the induction electric motor. But lesser known is the story of rural electrification—a story of incredible vision—dogged determination, politics, and most importantly, rural Americans working together to bring “the lights.”

By 1882, Edison built the first U.S. central power station on lower Manhattan Island. Over the next few decades, electric power became commonplace in America’s cities. But on the outside looking in, rural Americans, most of them farmers, saw the glow on the horizon as a distant, unreachable dream.

In 1920, about 35 percent of American households had electric power. That number reached 68 percent by 1929. But of the roughly 6.3 million American farms in 1922, only 3 percent had electricity. By the 1930s, only 800,000 of these farms were electrified. A mass migration was underway as rural residents fled the life of toil in America’s farmlands. Bringing power lines into rural America was a difficult proposition. Because there was no electricity, there was no load to serve; no lights, no motors, and no appliances. Because there was little load to serve, the investorowned and municipal utilities saw no profit or payback in extending lines into a countryside of farmland and forests.

If electricity was to spread in an appreciable way to rural America, a champion was needed. By the mid-1930s, two men emerged who fit the bill. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected in 1933, implemented an aggressive New Deal within his first one hundred days in office and quickly created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Roosevelt, a man of means from New York, befriended the rural Georgia farmers and came to understand the plight of rural Americans and the lives they led. A mountaintop experience in Warm Springs, Georgia, pushed by the encouragement of Morris Cooke, led to the creation of the Rural Electrification Administration.

Roosevelt named Cooke the first REA administrator. And soon, federal loans would flow out to construct distribution systems.

8

Introduction

But this is perhaps the most important point in the story. Cooke’s initial vision was to utilize the existing utilities to electrify rural areas—to build power lines outward from the cities already having electricity. He couldn’t foresee that the same utilities that saw no profit in rural America would now propose building power lines only to pockets of attractive loads, leaving the majority of farms and rural homes still without power. So he rejected their plans and turned to a business model already serving many farmers throughout the country—the cooperative.

Across America, groups of rural residents banded together to form cooperatives. REA engineers developed revolutionary designs to get the maximum number of miles of distribution line built from the limited dollars allocated by Congress.

Cooperative employees were hired. Local boards were elected. For five dollars, a homeowner or farmer could join the new coop. For $45, a home could be wired in anticipation of getting “the lights.”

And as the first few miles of poles and wire were erected by hand, lights emerged in the darkness for the first time.

The new “electrified” homes and farms saw a revolution. Very President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses a crowd in Barnesville, Georgia, quickly, electric pumps replaced regarding the importance of bringing electricity to rural areas. hand-operated well pumps. Photo Courtesy: NRECA Grain augers instead of shovels fed cattle. Electric pumps could milk a herd of dairy cows in a fraction of the time it took to milk by hand. Productivity on the farm took a quantum leap. And in the home, the transformation was perhaps even greater. For the millions of rural homemakers, the drudgery of food preparation, laundry, and even bathing changed rapidly.

This book is an attempt to tell the story of rural electrification through the perspective of Tri-County EMC. As the new coop was formed in 1939, the residents of rural middle Georgia saw the dream become a reality. In the seventy-five years since that first annual meeting, the flow of affordable energy has powered countless dreams. This book is dedicated to those volunteers, employees, and directors who made rural electrification a reality and to those employees who venture out into whatever Mother Nature brings to ensure that those lights forever burn in the darkness. This is our story.

Tri-County EMC

9

The Birth of

REA

The 1930s were among the bleakest of times in U.S. history. The stock market crashed on October 28, 1929—“Black Monday”—as the market bubble burst.

Consumer confidence plummeted, thousands of banks closed, and manufacturing slowed by a third, causing slashed wages, layoffs, and 25 percent unemployment.

Rural Americans were no better off as farmers struggled for subsistence. During the Great Depression, farm income fell by 50 percent. Five years of drought and erosion had devastated 100 million acres of prairie farmland. On April 14, 1935, “Black Sunday” saw the term “Dust Bowl” coined as twenty severe storms hit from Texas to Canada. Thousands of farmers abandoned worthless homesteads and headed west.

Across the nation, only 12 percent of farms had electrical service, making a farmer’s life a never-ending cycle of manual labor and days that began and ended in darkness.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, Americans needed a reason to believe. The new president quickly enacted his New Deal. In the first one hundred days of his presidency, he worked to shore up the banking system, took the country off the gold standard, repealed Prohibition, created the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC), and established the Tennessee Valley Authority, seeking to control flooding while creating electrical power for an extremely poor region. Roosevelt firmly believed that a key to restoring the nation to prosperity lay in the rural farm economy.

It is impossible to tell the story of Roosevelt and rural electrification without an understanding of the significance of Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt was paralyzed by polio in 1921. At the recommendation of a friend, he visited the spring water pools for the first time in 1924 and returned every year except 1942 until his death there in 1945. Although an affluent New Yorker, Roosevelt had an affinity for the rural farmers in the region. He took every opportunity to learn more about agriculture and the challenges faced by the Georgia farmers. He was also surprised to find that the few who had electricity in rural Georgia paid four times more per kilowatt-hour than he did in Hyde Park, New York.

If rural electrification was born in Roosevelt’s cottage in Warm Springs, it was largely because of the urging of Morris Cooke, an engineer and confidant of the president. Cooke was the director of Philadelphia’s public works department from 1911 to 1915. He reorganized the public works department, restructuring the 4,000 employees as civil servants and saving ratepayers millions of dollars through reduced rates. Later, he was commissioned by the governor of Pennsylvania to conduct a “Great Power” survey, a study of the potential for electricity to serve industry,

10

The Birth of REA

railroads, and farms. One result of the study was the development of a plan for the broad expansion of the electrical system, including rural areas. Roosevelt would eventually name Cooke to head up the Mississippi Valley Committee, an effort to end the cycle of droughts and floods in the region.

In the months following Roosevelt’s New Deal, Cooke and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, along with the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Grange, continued to press for federal action to bring rural electrification. President Roosevelt sought and received $100 million for bringing power lines to the nation’s countryside as part of a larger public works bill. Understanding that an independent agency was needed to administer the program, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 7037 on May 11, 1935, creating the Rural Electrification Administration. He appointed Morris Cooke as the first administrator.

As Cooke worked to assemble his agency, it quickly became obvious that rural electrification was to be less of a relief effort and more of a lending agency. And during those first months it became clear that privately owned utilities, those currently serving cities and towns with electricity, were not willing to work with REA. Cooke met with several larger power companies and asked for proposals on how they would utilize REA funds for rural electrification. What he received was symptomatic of why rural America was still in the dark. The investor-owned utilities’ plans called for using the entire $100 million to serve just 351,000 rural customers, essentially “cherry picking” the easy-to-serve loads and the large customers where there was an easy profit.

Loan applications were pouring into REA from across the country, many from farm organizations and cooperatives. As the agency worked to build an engineering staff and develop faster and more efficient designs for power line construction, it became apparent that the future of rural electrification would be in the hands of the cooperative.

In addition to REA construction loans, cooperatives were also applying for additional funds to be used for the financing of home wiring and appliances. Tri-County received a $15,000 loan for wiring homes. Some of these were not completed until after the system was energized. The cooperative also received $6,000 in REA loans to finance appliances, primarily refrigerators, which were obtained from a vendor in Atlanta. Light bulbs were also sold on consignment.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the executive order that established the REA on May 11, 1935. It would be four more years before a group of members would come together to form Tri-County EMC. Photo Courtesy: NRECA

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The

Early Days

Life before electricity. It is hard to imagine today, but seventy-five years ago it was reality. Although nearly 90 percent of city-dwellers had electricity by the early 1930s, slightly more than 10 percent of rural families had electricity in their homes.

Private utilities argued that it was too costly for them to place electric lines in rural areas when there were so few people living there.

On October 26, 1939, a group of rural farmers and homeowners from Jones, Putnam, and Baldwin counties gathered at the Jones County Courthouse to discuss organizing an electric cooperative. Also present were J. J. Ausen, a field representative from the Rural Electrification Administration, and W. T. Roberts, the local director of the 58 Lamar Project, a cooperative already formed in Lamar County. A few of the participants had already applied to the Lamar Project but hoped to find a quicker path to getting electrical service by forming a new project centered in Jones County.

After considerable discussion, a motion was made by Mr. George M. Schaer of Putnam County to form a new cooperative to serve Jones, Baldwin, and Putnam counties. The motion was seconded by W. B. Williams. By a vote of sixty-one to eight, the attendees elected to form a new cooperative.

At the same meeting, a committee of “nominators” was formed and the cooperative’s first board of directors A motion was made and was elected. A motion was also seconded that the following be made to name the new cooperative adopted: F. S. Batchelor, Jr. to “Tri-County EMC.” The members become project superintendent of of the cooperative’s first board of directors were W. H. Roberts, W. B. Tri-County Electric Membership Williams, Mrs. George Stallings, J. P. Corporation and that a salary Blasengame, M. E. Webb, Frank L. of $125 per month be paid to Denham, W. J. Beall, W. C. Evans, Mr. Batchelor plus five cents and T. W. Scott. It was this board that would apply for the first REA per mileage made in a privately construction loan at an amount of owned car. $161,000 to be used to fund the Board Minutes, April 1940 construction of the first power lines for Tri-County EMC.

12

The Early Days

At a special meeting of members on March 21, 1940, the board of directors adopted a resolution allowing the cooperative to execute a loan contract through the administrator of the REA not to exceed $161,000 to finance the construction and operation of transmission, distribution, and service lines by the cooperative.

Funding was on its way for the construction of the first power lines for Tri-County EMC members.

A membership committee for the cooperative went out into the community to see who wanted to bring electricity into their homes. A five-dollar membership fee was the first step, as it is today. This was the easy part.

Although electricity was making life easier in rural America, technology was not what it is today. While trucks were used to transport the poles, digging the holes, setting the poles, and running the wire was all done by hand. Robert Williams, a forty-year veteran with Tri-County, remembers the grueling process of building lines. “We started from scratch, digging by hand with shovels.� In places where trucks would not go, ingenuity, and hard work were the only vehicles left.

Often, mules were used to pull poles through densely wooded or swampy areas.

The Eatonton Messenger reported in 1940 that the construction contracts were ready for the erection of Tri-County lines. Of the 242 miles of line planned, ninety were scheduled to be built in Putnam County.

Photo Courtesy: The Eatonton Messenger

The first line extension to be considered was a section in Jones County known as the Three Point Tap, a 4.6-mile extension.

The extension was approved provided the guaranteed income was $28. Also approved were the Griswold Tap (14.2 miles) in Jones County, the Lawrence extension (3.2 miles) in Baldwin County, and the McDade (1.1 miles), W. P. Phillips (3.2 miles), Central (5.5 miles), Willard (9 miles), and Rock Eagle (6.1 miles) extensions in Putnam County.

Board Minutes, July 1940

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Bids were submitted from fourteen contractors from numerous states to construct the first lines for the cooperative.

On May 2, 1940, the winning bid went to Leo T. Barber of Moultrie, Georgia, with a low bid of $119,364.62. On September 12, 1940, forty miles of line were energized and 273 Tri-County members experienced electric service for the first time. At the end of World War II, TriCounty’s linemen had cleared right-of-way for and built 325 miles of line, all by hand, serving 751 rural homes and businesses.

The average customer used 139 kilowatt-hours per month and the average bill was $4.76. The cooperative had nine full-time and seven part-time employees.

A motion was made by J. P. Blasengame, seconded by F. T. Denham and unanimously adopted by the board, that the position of stenobookkeeper be offered to Mrs. Martha B. Massey at a salary of $85 per month.

Board Minutes, April 1940 An early slogan of Tri-County EMC was, “A light in every home puts a light in every heart.” Electricity brought more than just light to homes in rural America. It brought a new way of life. Photo Courtesy: NRECA

14

The Early Days

But for the members, the fascination was suddenly and finally having electric power. Many rural residents vividly remember this moment and consider it one of the most significant events during their lives. Claude Comer, who served the cooperative for forty years, spoke of turning on the power for the first time. “You ought to have seen the expression on people’s faces when their lights first came on.”

Mr. Wilson Greene remembered when the lights came on at his home. “When the power was turned on, the music started playing from a newly purchased Silvertone™ radio from Sears.”

A rural class learns about electricity during the 1930s. Photo Courtesy: NRECA

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The

1940s

1940

40 miles of line

662 miles of line

273 meters Average Bill

$3.75 per month

1,650 meters Average Bill

$5.94 per month

The beginnings of electricity in rural areas were an exciting time. Offices were opened in both Gray and Eatonton to sign members up for electric service. After hearing about the possibility of electricity, members cut down trees and cleared land in hopes the cooperative could bring power to their homes and farms.

Once connected, members were in charge of reading their own meters and turning in their meter cards with payment to the cooperative each month.

If they had a problem with electric service after hours, they called the Tri-County linemen at their homes using their personal four-digit telephone number published in Current Lines, the cooperative’s newsletter. There was no afterhours number you could call at the office.

Individuals were excited about the prospect of electricity coming to their towns. Posters like the one shown were displayed throughout rural America. Photo Courtesy: NRECA

16

The 1940s

The office and warehouse to be occupied by Tri-County EMC in Gray was leased from J. Hungerford at the rate of $20 per month.

Board Minutes, April 1940

Before Tri-County had a dispatch center that could take after-hours calls, linemen had their personal four-digit telephone numbers listed in Current Lines each month. If members had an outage, they reported it to the linemen at home.

The first Tri-County EMC office was located on Highway 22 between Gray and Haddock. While the building still stands today, the Tri-County office was relocated in the 1960s.

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Farm Life with Laurie Calvert

L

aurie Calvert grew up on a cotton farm in rural Baldwin County in the 1920s. She was one of nine children, along with her parents and eventually a grandfather, who lived in a two-room house with a double-sided fireplace and a detached kitchen.

“Papa bought a 192-acre farm and we did very well until the boll weevil came.

Then cotton dropped to nothing,” said Laurie. “But we didn’t have electricity. And we didn’t have an ice box either. I guess the ice truck didn’t come out that far.”

“Momma woke us up every morning to start the day,” she remembered. “The first thing she did was to light a lantern. And as soon as it was light enough outside to see, she would blow out the flame to save oil.”

Life on a farm was challenging, with or without electricity. But food was plentiful.

The family grew vegetables and corn and always had hogs and chickens. For sweets, they grew sugar cane and made cane syrup. One of the only things not grown or made on the farm was the twenty-fivepound sack of flour purchased once a week and coffee.

“The kitchen was a hot place. Momma made forty-eight biscuits in the wood

18

The 1940s

stove every morning,” said Laurie. “The midday meal—we called it dinner—was the biggest of the day. Momma would cook three or four vegetables and whatever meat we had. We would keep it warm and eat whatever was left for supper.” With no refrigeration, the concept of leftovers from fresh food did not exist.

One of the more complicated and important tasks was killing hogs, which required lots of help and the right weather.

“It had to be cold enough so that the meat would chill before it could be smoked,” remembered Laurie. Smoking the meat was the only way of keeping meat without it spoiling with no refrigeration.“We would boil water in big pots in the yard and dip the pigs in it to remove the hair. My job was to scrape off the hair. I also made sausage casings. Other than the chitterlings, which we gave to the hired help, we used pretty much everything but the squeal.”

After the day’s work was done—the farming, milking, cooking, and cleaning— there was time for entertainment.

Television wouldn’t be commonplace in rural America for many years. The family had no television. “We had a guitar and a fiddle,” said Laurie. “We would often sit and listen to family members play, and we would sing.”

In 1937, Laurie moved away from the farm, still without power, to go to college and then to work.“I think they got electricity on the farm after my brother, who was a Seabee stationed in the Aleutians, came home from the war.” She was married when she got her first refrigerator. “We financed it on the electric bill for $1.58 a month.”

The first satellite office of the cooperative was located in downtown Eatonton.

In those days, it was big news if someone purchased a refrigerator or stove. The theme of energy conservation heard by members today was nonexistent at that time as people strived to find different ways to use electricity in the home and on the farm. Members that used more than 200 kilowatt-hours had their name published in the monthly newsletter honor roll and some shared how they were using the electricity to make their lives easier.

While exciting, the early days of the cooperative were also a tough time. Not only was Tri-County in the process of building a new industry in the area, the cooperative was also incorporated during World War II, just ten years after the start of the Great Depression. While Current

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The above poster displays the convenience and ease that is brought into individuals’ homes with electricity. Photo Courtesy: NRECA

20

The 1940s

The Jones County News reported in 1940 that power lines in Gray were being surveyed and staked in Gray and a Jones County office was opened. Photo Courtesy: The Jones County News

Lines reported mainly on the business of Tri-County, it also served as a media outlet for the war effort. It promoted the purchase of war bonds to support our soldiers, turning in scrap metal, and the importance of producing agricultural products during the war. It also provided sugarfree recipes to give members ideas on how to cook during the sugar and food rations.

During wartime, farmers were asked to produce much more food to support the troops with fewer workers, as their laborers were at war.

Electricity came as a huge help during this time. Mr. W. J. Beall, a founding board member from Putnam County, reported in the December 1942 Current Lines that he relieved part of the labor shortage during the war by installing an electric milker on his dairy farm, reducing labor time. The milker, coupled with an electric cooler for storage, paid for his electric costs through his labor and waste savings.

In 1942, the cooperative was financially strong enough to make an advance loan payment of $4,000 from initial loan funds from the

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It Was Such a Good Feeling with Sam McElroy

O

ne of eleven children, Sam McElroy was raised on a farm in southern Putnam County. He served in the 11th Bombing Group during World War II. When he left home, the farm didn’t have electric service. When he returned from the war, it was to a farm with newly built power lines.

“It was such a good feeling,” remarked Sam. “You felt like you’d been freed from something. We found a second-hand electric stove and bought it.We didn’t have to go cut and split stove wood anymore.

And we could read at night without lighting those Aladdin lamps. It just meant so much.

They [the existing utilities] couldn’t see that at the time. It wasn’t as populated as it is now, but REA was willing to run those poles out here. All folks could think of was bare bulbs hanging but look at all the big motors and new electrical equipment folks put on those farms.”

22

The 1940s

For Sam and most of the farmers, times were hard before World War II. “There was no money. Folks were walking away from farms because they couldn’t pay the taxes.”

“We did have a radio,” Sam commented when asked about news and entertainment.

“We would listen to the farm report in the morning and WSB at lunch. But that was all. The radio was battery-powered, and we had to save for months to buy new batteries.”

Sam was one of the first ten men drafted for the war from Putnam County.

He spent a year training in the desert near Hollywood and then served as a tail gunner on B-24 Liberators based in Guam and later Okinawa. “When I was training at Muroc Army Airfield, in the Mojave Desert, we would go into Hollywood,” Sam remembered. “I got to go to places like the Palladium and the Brown Derby and see acts like Woody Herman. And I saw Ginger Rogers in a bar and Shirley Temple driving around town.” But then he flew off overseas. “We bombed Truk Island, the Marshall Islands, and Kiangwan Airfield in Shanghai, China. That bunch in the Marshall Islands could really shoot.”

After the war, Sam went to work at the Enterprise Aluminum Plant in Eatonton.

“When I graduated from high school, I stood there with tears running down my cheeks because the only future I could see for myself was in the cotton fields and I had had my fill of it. I was able to go to work in the aluminum plant at fifty-seven cents an hour. I vowed never to set foot in a field again, and I never did.”

Tri-County’s monthly newsletter, Current Lines, was first published in August of 1941. While its main purpose was to communicate cooperative news, it was also used to communicate national news—especially during wartime.

federal government through REA. Throughout the country that year, REA-financed systems were only able to construct a portion of the line extensions they would have normally been able to due to difficulty getting materials. Copper and steel were vitally needed for direct war work, and there was also a shortage of poles and labor. Peace brought an end to these financial limitations, and line extensions resumed at full pace.

Growth continued throughout the end of the ’40s and beyond. Towards the end of the decade, the cooperative hosted demonstrations at annual meetings on how to use electric appliances and how members could save time and energy. Current Lines featured a “newest current use” section

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in which homemakers and farmers shared the newest way they were using electricity on their property. These new uses were many things we consider standard today, including kitchen appliances, refrigerators, and electric irons. Tri-County members, along with electric coop members from across the state, were encouraged to attend annual meetings in Macon that showcased every electric device that was available for purchase.

Many changes occurred for the coop and its members from 1939 to 1949.

Even through the challenges of war, members continued to be excited about the possibilities electricity brought. By 1949, there were 662 miles of line serving 1,650 meters, with each member paying an average of $5.94 per month for their electric service.

In addition to appliance demonstrations at annual meetings, the cooperative also scheduled appliance demonstrations throughout the county to demonstrate at-home uses of electricity. Photo Courtesy: The Eatonton Messenger

In the early cooperative days, construction of power lines was a difficult job with all work being done by hand.

24

The 1940s

The women of the house were happy to have electricity to make household chores easier. No more heating a metal iron up on the fire. Photo Courtesy: NRECA

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1950

The

1950s

72

1,800 meters

miles of line

1960

Average Bill

$5.73 per month

4,012,569 kWh sold

861 miles of line

3,055 meters

Average Bill

$7.60 per month

12,247,405 kWh sold

The spirit of the cooperative was as present in the 1950s as it is today.

While the main business was providing electric service to members, the theme of Tri-County being more than just a power company was shown numerous times. Each year, the cooperative made donations to charity groups including 4-H, March of Dimes, tuberculosis committees, and many others.

An early Tri-County EMC crew gathers for a photo. Back row: Manager E. R. Sims, Joe Greene, and Jerry Rowland. Front row: Dewitt Avery and Roy Comer.

26

The 1950s

The cooperative’s commitment to youth programs was also becoming apparent. Tri-County, along with other cooperatives in Georgia, donated funds to construct a cottage at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Putnam County and to construct a cottage at the FFA & FHA center in Covington.

One of the advantages of not-for-profit cooperatives over other utilities during this time was the ability to apply for federal REA loans to construct new lines in rural areas. Members of the cooperatives helped pay back these loans through their electric bills. Shortly after celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, REA warned members that other power companies were trying to encroach on the land of rural communities to take advantage of REA loans, while still making a profit. To combat this, volunteers from cooperatives across the state joined the Georgia Rural Electric Minutemen in 1958. This group served as a grassroots organization to spread the word about this issue and reserve the REA loans for the electric cooperative, as they were originally intended to be used.

Former Tri-County EMC board chairman Willie Williamson accepts his Georgia Rural Electric Minutemen pin and certificate.

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Snowstorms and Fried Chicken with Mary Alice Willett Norman Chambliss

M

ary Alice Willett Norman Chambliss began working at TriCounty in 1953, when there were 1,800 members on the system. “When I started working I did all the billing myself.

There were only four women in the office,

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The 1950s

so we did a little bit of everything,” said Mary Alice. “I billed, talked to members, and if anyone needed help in another department, we helped them too.”

“We were more like a family than we were workers because we raised each other’s children and we knew each other’s families.” Mary Alice brought that sentiment to the members as well. “I can still hear names now and think, oh they live over on this street.” She knew every name in the system after working at the cooperative for thirty years.

During that time, employees often helped in other departments. Customer service representatives would help the accounting department during billing, and the accounting department would help with customers as needed. Any time a storm came through and caused major outages, all hands were on deck. Mary Alice remembers one such snowstorm.

“All of Jones County and Gray were out of power. We had crews come in from North Carolina and other places to help us, and we had nowhere to feed them. So Roy Comer, one of the linemen, his wife, and I went to their house where there was power. The two of us cooked fried chicken for that whole crowd of people. I still don’t know how we did it!”

Mary Alice retired from Tri-County after working thirty years with the cooperative.

Two linemen splice a wire by hand during the 1950s.

Electric appliance stores were eager to donate items for the cooperative’s annual meeting’s door prizes in order to promote their new products.

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While lines were still being built in the service area, lines were also being “heavied up” to handle more load.

This picture shows a three-phase regulator bank.

Annual meetings continued to be well attended.

Door prizes were awarded, entertainment was provided, and knowledge of electricity was demonstrated. Local electric appliance companies continued to educate the women of the household on all of the uses for electricity in the home— especially the kitchen.

In 1952, Tri-County began updating equipment by replacing 500 kVA transformers with 1,000 kVA transformers and replacing three-shot repeaters with oil switches. Even through these upgrades, then-manager Wayne Johnson reported that the cost of electricity remained the same as it had been since incorporation in 1939.

With more and more electric appliances being added to homes, warnings were issued to members that overloading plugs can cause blown fuses. TriCounty offered classes in Baldwin, Jones, and Putnam counties to teach members about electric safety in the home. It wasn’t until 1958 that the goal of reducing energy usage was present, with Current Lines giving different tips on how to use less electricity in the home. In 1959, upgrades continued on power lines so that they could carry more electric load.

Tri-County EMC’s truck fleet looked a bit different during the 1950s. Notice there was not a bucket truck. If work was done on the lines, linemen had to climb the poles to get to them. Still, linemen were excited to have these new trucks during the 1950s.

30

The 1950s

The cooperative was financially strong. Construction of new lines continued through the 1950s, new and additional crew trucks were purchased, more employees were hired, and land was purchased to construct a new headquarters office in Jones County, just outside the city limits.

In the late 1950s, Tri-County EMC, along with other electric utilities across the country, began promoting the Gold Medallion Home program. In a time when many homes still used fuel oil or even coal for heating, a total electric home, complete with electric heat, represented the best in modern technology. As such, the Gold Medallion Home label carried prestige for the owners of these new all-electric homes. The tagline “Live Better Electrically” was inscribed on a brass medallion installed by the front door. Electric meters on these homes had gold globes and shiny brass hardware, letting everyone know that a Gold Medallion Home was special. These meters, now extremely rare, are highly sought after by collectors.

All-electric homes in the 1950s were known as Gold Medallion Homes. The medallion shown, installed by the front door of these homes, was a symbol of prestige at the time, and now a collector’s item. Photo Courtesy: Walton EMC

An early A-frame truck at the coop helps move power poles.

Margaret Briscoe and Mary Alice Willett Norman Chambliss both worked in the office at Tri-County EMC. Whether an employee worked in accounting or customer service, in the early days of the cooperative, the inside employees did a little bit of everything.

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31

Here to Serve with Edna Comer and Anne Greene

Two long-time employees retired in April of 1991.

Edna Comer, Forty-seven Years

“I

remember when I was hired, I made forty cents an hour, and I was happy to get it,” said Edna. “We have gone from keeping all records and billing members manually to complete computerization. The changes over the years have been phenomenal, but the basic reason we’re here, to serve our members, has never changed. I am proud to have played a part in such an important effort.”

32

The 1950s

Anne Greene, Twenty-seven Years

“I

t has been an absolute pleasure to help members over the years,” said Anne. “From talking with young couples about service for their first home to helping people in desperate need work out a way to pay, I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have always loved people, and the people are what make TEMCO so special.”

Members had to keep track of their own electric usage during the ’50s and mail in a meter reader card each month. Today, many members may not know where a meter is located because it is rarely necessary for them to look at it.

Tri-County EMC

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1960

The

1960s

861 miles of line

1970

3,055 meters

$7.60

Average Bill

per month

12,247,405 kWh sold

1,046 miles of line

4,783 meters

Average Bill

$11.78 per month

36,139,784 kWh sold

The Tri-County EMC crew continued to grow and build lines throughout the ’60s. Standing: George Russell, Demus Thurman, David Ross, Anderson Pitts, Norman Greene, and Henry Blount. Sitting: Jack Bryant, Byron Tribble, Dewitt Avery, Jerry Rowland, Claude Comer, Joe Adams, Roy Comer, and Joe Greene.

34

The 1960s

The decade began with REA’s Silver Anniversary celebration in Warm Springs, Georgia. Sixty Tri-County members joined several hundred attendees to hear Mr. Claude R. Wickard, a member of FDR’s administration, speak to the importance of REA. “It is fitting that we have come here to this shrine at Warm Springs to commemorate the twentyfifth anniversary of REA and pay homage to FDR who did so much to help people everywhere.”

It’s amazing what a difference a few decades will make. Members who didn’t have electricity twenty-five years ago couldn’t imagine life without it now. By August of 1960, 96 percent of farms, homes, schools, and businesses outside the city limits had electric service. The cooperative had seventeen full-time employees. Tri-County continued to grow not only in meters but also in employees and equipment upgrades. By the end of the decade, crews had a digger truck to help place poles.

By the end of the 1960s, Tri-County crews were excited to use the recently purchased digger truck. Until this time, crews had to dig pole holes by hand.

Tri-County EMC

35

Built By Hand with Jerry Rowland

J

erry Rowland started at Tri-County in 1958—back when the coop had 1,800 meters. “I went from cutting bushes to crew leader,” said Jerry. “They changed my position four to five times while I was here.”

36

The 1960s

Jerry was impressed by the growth in the area. “Used to, you could go miles and miles and not see a house. Now, you can see from one house to the next.”

Electricity was such a new service when Jerry started that outages often were not quickly reported to the coop. “I remember when the power would go out, people would just ask, ‘Next time you’re in the area, will you see if you can get my power back on?’” he recalled. “They’d stay off a week or two and we wouldn’t know because they didn’t even call us. That would never happen today.”

The changes in line construction technology have made an impact in how line work is done today. “It’s unreal the equipment they have now versus what we had. We dug an anchor hole by hand, a pole hole by hand. You had an A-frame boom you could set the poles with… if you could get the truck in there.” Jerry noted that although the jobs are similar, working lines is a whole different world now. “But I’d rather climb a pole than use a bucket truck any day.”

Jerry retired from Tri-County in 1995.

Metering points, such as this one pictured in a 1960s issue of Current Lines, would give way to new substations in the next decade.

When electricity was first run to homes, it was enough to run a light bulb, an oven, and not much more at the same time. As more and more electrically powered inventions were emerging on the market, there was an increasing demand for more electric capacity on the lines serving individual homes.

Overloading was a common inconvenience that was well known to members. “The ladies knew when their husbands were milking to try not to bake a cake, as there wasn’t sufficient power for both the house and barn,� said Mrs. W. H. Knowles, Putnam County. Members were warned of overloading by their lights dimming, their stoves not heating properly, television pictures drawing up, and the constant blowing of fuses.

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37

“Heavying up the lines” became common terminology in the 1960s as Tri-County continued to increase electric capacity throughout the service area. A new substation was built in Putnam County to provide more reliable service, and smaller poles and lines were replaced to bring lines from single-phase to three-phase. New members continued to move to into the area, and construction of lines was steady throughout the 1960s.

Many members were requesting larger transformers to compensate for the use of heating and air conditioning—a luxury becoming popular in the service area.

Tri-County EMC employees gather for a photo in front of the office. Standing: Jack Bryan, Jerry Rowland, Mary Alice Willett Norman Chambliss, Margaret Briscoe, Joe Adams, Anne Greene, Floyd Donaldson, E. R. Sims, and Norman Greene. Front Row: Claude Comer, Dewitt Avery, and Joe Greene.

38

The 1960s

A new Tri-County EMC headquarters was constructed on Highway 129 just southwest of Gray. Tri-County’s was not the only growth in the area. Rock Eagle, Putnam General Hospital, Gray-velle Mobile Homes, and Oconee Springs Park contributed to the service area’s continued growth.

Total electric homes were becoming increasingly popular. Cooking demonstrations were hosted at Tri-County to teach homemakers the advantages of electric appliances in the homes and the best ways to use them. A totally equipped electric home at the time would include electric heat, an oven and stove, a water heater, a washing machine, a refrigerator, a TV, AC, a pump, an iron, and small electric appliances.

It wasn’t until the late 1960s that members showed an interest in learning how to use less electricity in their home. Until that time, the more electric conveniences they could use in the home, the better.

Current Lines added a column with advice to members on simple ways to use less electricity in the home.

Tri-County constructed a new office in Gray during the 1960s. Although the location remains the same, the headquarters building was rebuilt in 2001.

Tri-County EMC

39

Top of the Pole with Bobby Davis

B

obby Davis has been working at TriCounty for forty years and has held numerous positions. After working at another local company that went out of business, Bobby knew he wanted to work at Tri-County. “I came up to TriCounty about six times and filled out an application,” said Bobby. “Well, they didn’t have applications then. They had a piece of paper. I put my name on that paper and came up here every day for two months until they hired me.”

Bobby started with the coop as a groundsman. “I was here about a month and a half before they started me climbing poles. I was scared slap to death. I got to

40

The 1960s

the top, and I was just shaking.” He made it to the top of that pole, a pole that he can still locate today, and the top of many other poles over the years.

After serving as a lineman until 1986, Bobby became an equipment operator after an injury to his hand. “I miss being on call and seeing the lights come on,” he said. “We’d always like to see how many we could get on before we stopped.”

A common theme that many linemen expressed was gratitude to the wives.

“Outage calls used to go to the man on call’s house. When you’d go out on a call, they’d still call your house, and your wife would answer the phone. And she’d have to call somebody at the office to call me on the radio to get a hold of me.” The wives almost acted as employees during major outages, helping funnel the calls to the linemen.

When Bobby started, outages were common. They would sometimes last days, but the members knew how to live without it. “Lights aren’t even supposed to blink now,” Bobby said. “It wasn’t uncommon for lights to go off for a week back when I started.” As they are now, members were always grateful to get them back on. “The members would thank you and offer to feed you for getting their lights on.”

When Bobby started forty years ago he was making $2.50 an hour, and he was glad to have it. “That was top pay for somebody just starting, and I wanted a job close to the house. I love every bit of it. That’s the reason I’m still here.”

Manager E. R. Sims poses with Willie Wiredhand at the Eatonton Dairy Festival. The dairy industry was a major part of the Putnam County economy during the 1960s.

Parades were an important part of small-town life during the 1960s, and Tri-County’s floats never disappointed. Each summer, Miss Georgia REA joined Tri-County in the Putnam County Dairy Festival Parade, and the employees looked forward to decorating a float for the Jones County Christmas Parade each year.

Construction on the Rock Eagle 4-H Camp was completed in 1960— the largest 4-H center in the world. In the summer of 1965, the EMCs in Georgia raised funds to construct a cabin at Rock Eagle.

While the 1960s had many of the same challenges as previous decades, the realities of the role of the electric cooperative beyond rural electrification began to emerge. In 1962, Walter Harrison, a past National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) president and rural electric pioneer, said, “Keep in mind that the golden years of our program will be the hardest. The missionary days are over, the honeymoon was sweet, we are now of age and on our own. Can we measure up to our obligations? Will we meet the challenges? We believe that we can.” The 1960s were a taste of the challenges that would come to fruition with the energy crisis of the 1970s. At the end of the decade, electricity prices were the same as they were in 1939. That was about to change.

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41

The Tri-County EMC crew receives a safety award. Safety was beginning to be a major focus in the electric cooperative world in the 1960s.

Employees at Tri-County EMC receive service awards from Manager E. R. Sims in July 1962. Front row: E. R. Sims, Mrs. W. F. Leverette, Mrs. H. C. Lancaster, Mrs. H. H. Comer, Mrs. J. A. Norman, and Mr. Dewitt Avery. Back row: Joseph Greene, Roy Comer, Claude Comer, Jack Bryan, Floyd Donaldson, and Demus Thurman.

42

The 1960s

Lines coming from the newly constructed Eatonton substation.

Tri-County EMC

43

1970

The

1970s

1,046 miles of line

1980

4,783 meters

Average Bill

$11.78 per month

36,139,784 kWh sold

1,413 miles of line

8,090 meters

Average Bill

$41.43 per month

85,672,131 kWh sold

By July of 1972, EMCs across Georgia were providing power to 80 percent of the Georgia area—one in four Georgians. Photo Courtesy: Current Lines, Georgia EMC

44

The 1970s

Urban sprawl continued within the service area. New subdivisions were planned. New homes were built. New stores were opening.

The largest of these subdivisions was River North off Upper River Road in Jones County. A new substation was constructed to accommodate the development, which included hundreds of houses and a country club.

The 1970s would bring great challenges to the cooperative; the challenge of constructing new lines for members moving into the service area, along with the challenge of increasing energy prices.

In 1971, the wholesale power cost rate for electricity increased by 37 percent. This led to the first rate increase in the history of the cooperative in February of 1972. The minimum bill, which was $1.02 per month since 1939, would increase to $2.00 per month.

The cooperative enlisted its members to help with the increasing power costs by limiting electric use during peak hours of the day.

The cooperative’s wholesale power cost was determined based on the highest kilowatt usage between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Limiting energy use during that time would help keep electricity prices at bay.

Supply costs were increasing in the 1970s, making it more expensive to construct new lines and repair others. In previous years it was a simple process to get construction loans from REA. In the 1970s, REA would not fund loans in full. This lack of needed capital led cooperatives to form the National Rural Utilities Cooperatives Finance Corporation (CFC).

Unlike REA, CFC was able to raise funds for cooperatives from capital

During the energy crisis of the ’70s, Tri-County gave members advice on how to lower their electric use in the home in Current Lines. This chart points out how the heating cost increases as you raise the temperature over 70 degrees.

markets. Tri-County’s loans in the 1970s were funded 70 percent by REA and 30 percent by CFC. On March 29, 1973, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act, formally defining the territory in which each electric supplier would provide service.

Territories would be established under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), which was responsible for approving each coop’s REA or CFC loans. For the most part, suppliers in assigned areas would continue serving their same customers, plus new construction within 500 feet of its lines; the PSC would assign a supplier to unassigned areas when necessary. All consumers with a 900-kilowatt load or more would have the right to choose their power supplier once. This “customer choice” provision in the Territorial Act was beneficial to Tri-County. Tri-County was now able to bid on industrial loads that formerly the cooperative was not allowed to serve. This meant more economic development opportunities for the area and growth for Tri-County EMC. The cooperative switched to computer billing in the late 1970s. Edna Comer, who worked at the cooperative since the 1940s, remembered the change. “We had gone from keeping all records and billing members manually to complete computerization,” said Comer. “I remember when we did the billing on the old machine,” said Faye Jernigan, a Tri-County retiree.

“You could hear it all the way down the hall going clackidy-clack-clack.”

Tri-County EMC

45

I’m Here to See Myrtice with Myrtice Roberts

M

yrtice Roberts started working in the billing department in 1970, back when there were no computers in the office and billing was done by hand. “We had two machines that did all of the posting of the payments. Anne Greene and I did most of the billing at that time, and you always knew when it was billing time. You could hear the machines all the way up the hall.”

She remembers pitching in and helping as needed around the cooperative.“During a snowstorm one year, the power started going out, and they called me to come in to

46

The 1970s

work,” Myrtice said. “I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes, but I forgot to take the curlers out of my hair. I came in to work with curlers in my hair!” She remembers her fellow coworkers getting a good laugh out of it. “It wasn’t funny to me!” she joked.

She remembers when members would come in to pay their bill, some would ask specifically for her. “It really made you feel good to know that you made some impact on how they felt about Tri-County,” she said.

Myrtice worked at Tri-County for twenty-seven years, retiring in 1997.

On January 8, 1973, the area experienced one of the largest snowfalls on record, with sixteen inches of snow covering most of the service area. All hands were on deck to restore power, with members helping to find the trouble spots and clear paths to the lines.

In 1974, the cooperative experienced its second rate increase. Electric rates increased by 15 percent. That same year, thirty-eight of Georgia’s EMCs, including Tri-County, jointly formed the Oglethorpe Electric Membership Corporation. Named for General James Edward Oglethorpe, the new power supply cooperative was created to give Georgia coops wholesale power options other than Georgia Power. Oglethorpe Electric changed its name to Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC) in 1978.

OPC, Georgia’s statewide generation and transmission coop, purchased portions of four large electric generation plants either under construction or on the drawing board. The purchase gave EMCs 60 percent of Units 1 and 2 of Georgia Power’s Plant Robert W. Scherer, an under-construction coal-fired facility north of Macon. Also purchased was 30 percent of Plant Wansley, a coal-fired plant in Heard County; Plant Hatch, a nuclear plant in Appling County; and Plant Vogtle, a nuclear plant under construction in Burke County. In addition, OPC purchased a parity share, based on percentage load within the state, of Georgia’s transmission system and substations, known as the Integrated Transmission System (ITS). Through OPC, Georgia’s EMCs were now in control of their own destiny.

In 1975, a new Eatonton office was constructed. Originally located on N. Jefferson Avenue in downtown Eatonton, the cooperative built an office on the corner of East Sumter Street and Grand Avenue across from Rountree’s Grocery.

Electricity brought many conveniences to homemakers. There was no longer a need to hand-pump water, cook on a wood-burning stove, or wash clothes in a bucket. This ad is promoting the purchase of a clothes dryer in the 1970s. Photo Courtesy: NRECA, Current Lines

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47

The Lady from Tri-County with Faye Brown Jernigan

F

aye Brown Jernigan worked in billing, cashiering, engineering, and bookkeeping during her time at TriCounty. “I remember before computers took over the billing we had these two old machines that went ‘clackidy clack clack.’”

She said you definitely knew when it was billing time.

During her time at Tri-County, Faye also volunteered with Jones County EMT.“During

48

The 1970s

emergency times, they let me run rescue calls from the office. For an area without ambulance service, that saved a lot of lives,” said Faye. She appreciated the kindness that Tri-County showed and how much they valued the citizens of Jones County.

She said people still remember her today as “the lady from Tri-County.”

Faye worked at Tri-County from 1968 to 1997.

Tri-County’s first bucket truck was purchased in 1974. Working from a bucket made line work faster, safer, and more efficient. But climbing poles and working off of hooks remain required skills today.

Tri-County EMC

49

1980

The

1980s

1,413 miles of line

1990

8,090 meters

Average Bill

$41.43 per month

85,672,131 kWh sold

1,762 12,580 meters

miles of line

Average Bill

$72.28 per month

148,898,571 kWh sold

Tri-County’s first load management program played a part in helping reduce electric costs by reducing electric consumption during peak hours of the day. The Switch was used by the EMC to pause the member’s air conditioner, heater, or water heater briefly during peak hours.

50

The 1980s

In 1981, Georgians were paying 300 percent more for electricity than they did in 1965— a trend not uncommon around the U.S. A 10-percent rate increase took place in April of 1981, bringing the average bill to approximately fifty dollars per month. “Electricity will probably never be cheap again,” said thenmanager Ray Roberts. “It is important to control the consumption of this product so as to be able to reduce the cost when possible.” In order to control electric use, Tri-County began its first load management program, The Switch.

This program would shut off the members’ air conditioning for seven minutes and/or the water heater for two to three hours during peak demand times in order to help the cooperative use less energy during peak time, leading to a lower wholesale power cost. By the end of the decade, 2,000 switches had been installed and operated by the EMC, saving members nearly $100,000.

Tri-County felt so strongly about energy conservation during this time that an additional employee was added solely to help members with their conservation questions and needs. The government also encouraged energy conservation by offering tax credits equal to 15 percent of the first $20,000 spent on energy improvements to homes.

In April of 1983, Georgia cooperatives flexed their grassroots muscles when a financial threat was made. A Utility Franchise Tax, proposed in the Georgia House of Representatives, would allow taxation of utilities by the counties they serve, increasing members’ bills by nearly 4 percent.

Georgia Magazine, the statewide EMC publication, encouraged members of cooperatives across the state to write their representative and let them know what an impact would be made on the individual members. Nearly 200,000 letters poured into the state capitol opposing the passing of the tax. With a little teamwork from cooperatives around the state, the additional tax was avoided.

Technology was improving at the cooperative. The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) was installed to allow Tri-County to monitor loads and equipment throughout the service area.

The cooperative’s first digitized mapping project reached completion in 1988. The energy efficiency program continued to gain popularity and strength. The cooperative continued to push energy conservation by encouraging at-home upgrades including insulation, storm windows, caulking, and the use of heat pumps.

During the energy crisis, Tri-County encouraged members to use electricity wisely. Energy-saving tips were always included in Current Lines.

Tri-County EMC

51

Two Generations with Joey and Cal Bullington

J

oey Bullington started working at TriCounty in 1988 and retired in 2011.

His son, Cal, started working at TriCounty in early 2014, proving that line work gets in your blood. When asked why he wanted to be a lineman, Cal said, “It’s like a family here, I’ve already noticed. You work somewhere different every day, and you don’t have to see the exact same thing every day.”

Joey appreciated the family atmosphere in the coop, and also with cooperative

52

The 1980s

members. “When you’re on call, it might be nights, it might be weekends, it might be holidays. I remember one year I was out working and ended up going to a member’s home for Thanksgiving.” Joey worked at the coop in the summer when he was going to school, and that’s what started his career. “It was interesting work.

And I always enjoyed everyone I worked with.”

A crewmember works to build a primary line.

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53

Growth continued in the Tri-County service area with many people from Macon and Milledgeville moving further outside of the cities, increasing Tri-County’s member count. Tri-County was committed to making the members’ lives easier but not only by providing electricity.

Tri-County allowed local cable companies to use the cooperative’s power poles to run cable lines in the service area, bringing cable to many members for the first time.

Plant Vogtle, a nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, began operation in June of 1987. While nuclear fuel was controversial due to the Three Mile Island accident and the recent Chernobyl explosion just one year earlier, electric utilities adding nuclear energy in the fuel mix accounted for 40 percent of America’s total reduction in oil consumption between 1973 and 1983.

By the end of the decade, cooperatives were striving to get a new identity rather than increasing electric rates. A new logo was developed as a reminder of what the cooperatives stand for. The three lines of the logo represent consistency, stability, and dedication. The circle represents cooperation, unity, commitment, and dependability.

The cooperative created an in-house line technician apprenticeship program. Employees would work their way through the program and receive a TVA Public Power Association Certificate upon completion.

This three-year program taught employees how to do line work correctly and safely. It gave the employees a chance to invest in the cooperative and a chance for the cooperative to invest in its employees.

In 1989, the cooperative unveiled a new logo that is still used today. The three lines of the circle represent consistency, stability, and dedication. The circle represents cooperation, unity, commitment, and dependability.

54

The 1980s

Tri-County continued to support the youth of the area and added another leadership program in 1988. The cooperative sponsored a student to represent it on the NRECA Washington Youth Tour. The inspiration behind the tour came from President Lyndon Johnson when he was a senator. Johnson spoke at the NRECA annual meeting in Chicago in 1957 and proposed a tour of the nation’s capital for teens living in rural cooperative service areas as a chance for them to see “what the flag stands for.”

Although the NRECA Washington Youth Tour began in the late ’50s, Tri-County participated in the Washington Youth Tour for the first time in 1988.

Maricia Bennekin from Putnam County High School represented the cooperative on the trip to Washington, D.C.

Tri-County EMC

55

24/7

with Donald Appling

D

onald Appling is currently the vice president of construction, but started working at Tri-County as a meter-reader in 1977. He continued in that position for seven years until he moved into the engineering department in 1984, where he began staking.

56

The 1980s

“I’ve done some of everything. Meterreading, cashiering, sweeping floors, staking, and line work,” said Donald. “It’s been a home. I grew up here.”

Working at the cooperative is a demanding job, and Donald learned that shortly after he started at Tri-County.

“Right after I first started I got a call to work an outage. I told my wife, Valerie, that I had to go in to work and didn’t know when I’d be back,” said Donald. He was gone for four days during that outage restoration.

In the days before cell phones, it was hard to keep in touch with family members to let them know you were ok. “She knew if I wasn’t at home, then I was at work. And that’s the job.”

Donald makes an effort to convey the importance of dedicated work when he hires new employees that maintaining the lines is a 24/7 job. “It takes a different type of person to be in this line of work.

Because it’s demanding, but it’s a job.

We’re here to serve the people, and that’s what we try to do. We’re twentyfour hours a day, seven days a week.”

Employees gather for a photo in front of the Gray office in 1988.

Tri-County EMC

57

1990

The

1990s

1,762 12,580 meters

miles of line

2000

Average Bill

$72.28 per month

148,898,571 kWh sold

2,160 17,185 meters

miles of line

Average Bill

$91.05 per month

266,203,821 kWh sold

Tri-County’s commitment to community began to show in a new way—commitment to youth. The coop continued to sponsor students on the NRECA Washington Youth Tour each year. Since 1988, thirty-six students from the Tri-County service area have experienced a first-hand look at the nation’s capital because of this program. Scholarship programs at the time included the FFA/EMC Rural Electrification Contest and the Walter Harrison Scholarship. The Cooperative Youth Conference was also beginning to grow. This conference, a weeklong camp that still exists today, gives students an in-depth look at cooperatives and allows them to network with students across the state through team-building activities.

Tri-County was also committed to building leaders in the community through the Young Couples Conference. The weekend retreat, which allows couples to learn about the cooperative world and have insight into their own lives, celebrated its tenth year in 1991.

Members also had the opportunity to participate in Project Share through the Salvation Army. By adding one, two, or five dollars to their bill, members contributed to housing, food, medical care, transportation, and utility bills for individuals in need within the service area.

Technology was aiding the cooperative with computers being installed throughout the office, but it was aiding members as well. Programs available to members included gas service from Peachtree Natural Gas; InterLink Control, a home security system; and Surge Guard protection, a subscription-based program to install surge protectors in a home to protect it from possible electric surges during storms.

58

The 1990s

The cooperative’s response center opened in 1993. For the first time, dispatchers could monitor outages, dispatch personnel to the scene, and perform other support functions twenty-four hours a day. This system, coupled with a new telephone system hosting twenty-one incoming lines, gave members a level of service that they had not seen before.

By the end of 1999, all residential and commercial meters were converted to Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) meters that were remotely read by radio. This system lowered the possibility of error in meter reading and also eliminated the need for a Tri-County employee to visit each member’s home to collect meter readings each month. Instead, employees were able to collect multiple meter readings at a time using a computer in the truck. This reduced meter reading time from twenty days to five days each month.

The Tri-County website, www.tri-countyemc.com, came online in 1996 and allowed numerous energy efficiency tools to be delivered to members. For the first time, members could learn about the cooperative and its programs online. For many members, the website is the only interface they have with the cooperative today.

A new dispatch office came on scene in 1993. This allowed dispatchers to monitor outages and perform other support functions twenty-four hours a day.

Tri-County EMC

59

When the Lights Went Out with Joe Adams

J

oe Adams was working at an asphalt and paving company before he took an opportunity at Tri-County. He started as a groundsman, but, like most employees, did a little bit of everything.

“It’s always been a good place to work,” said Joe. “I’ve read meters. I’ve collected payments. Back then you did everything.

Even came in to help the women send out the bills.”

Joe remembers working lots of different outages over the years. “When we were on call, members would call us at home if their lights went out,” he said. “I

60

The 1990s

remember Fourth of July one year we had one line that kept going off because of the heat. People were so happy to get the lights.”

Now that he is retired, he doesn’t know what to do when the lights go out.

“When I retired, I realized I’d never been home when the lights went out because I was always on call,” he said.

“I’d like to went crazy because I was used to working.”

Joe retired from Tri-County in 1995 after working at the coop for thirty-four years.

Many long-time office employees began their retirement during the 1990s. Edna Comer, who worked at the cooperative for forty-seven years, remembers when she first started. “I remember that I was excited to get a job close to home, and that I would make forty cents per hour,” said Comer. “And I was happy to get it!” A lot of changes happened over her forty-seven years at the coop. Other retirees included Anne Greene, who worked in the Gray office for twenty-seven years, and Kathryn Walden Bollinger, who worked in the Eatonton office for thirty-two years. These and many other retirees joined Tri-County in celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the cooperative in 1999.

In the late 1990s, coops in Georgia were experiencing a high rate of growth. No new baseload generation was being constructed, and they faced the possibility of a deregulated business environment. Oglethorpe Power was divided into three operating companies. Oglethorpe Power retained ownership of the generation facilities, Georgia Transmission owned the transmission lines and substations, and Georgia System

Retirees gather to help celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Tri-County EMC in 1999. Left to right: Claude Comer, Jerry Rowland, Myrtice Roberts, Anne Greene, Margaret Briscoe, Edna Comer, Robert Williams, and Joe Adams.

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Operations Company was formed to operate the co-owned assets, scheduling generation for all of the different EMCs. Needing base generation, or the constant load needing to be supplied, thirty coops entered into an agreement with Georgia Power to purchase additional steam generation. In 2001, Oglethorpe and the member coops entered into an agreement allowing each cooperative to contract separately for their future needs or to have Oglethorpe build new plants. Today, TriCounty has entered into agreements with Oglethorpe Power to build new baseload generation and an agreement with Southern Power to fill capacity needs above those co-owned through Oglethorpe Power.

Needing a recognizable brand for energy efficiency programs, Georgia’s cooperatives purchased rights to use the Good Cents name. EMCs across the state, including Tri-County, spread the word about energy-efficient construction and high-efficiency heat pumps through the Good Cents program. During the height of the program, certifications and rebates were offered to homeowners willing to invest in higher construction standards. Greg Mullis, current Senior Vice President of Energy Services, was hired to assist members with energy efficiency in 1991. “During this time we certified hundreds of new homes,” said Mullis. “We helped hundreds of families save money and ensure that they lived in a more comfortable home.” During the 1990s, many homes that were heated with propane or electric furnaces converted to heat pumps, a more costeffective way to heat a home. Utilizing electricity for heating and cooling balanced load across seasons and made Tri-County’s distribution more efficient.

Transformers at the Gray office are ready to be used as necessary.

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The 1990s

This graphic shows the increase in the cost of electricity compared to other consumer goods. While the cost of electricity has increased, electricity still remains a bargain by comparison.

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2000

2,160 17,185

The

2000s

meters

miles of line

2013

Average Bill

$91.05 per month

266,203,821 kWh sold

2,724 20,947 meters

miles of line

Average Bill

$139.00 per month

348,955,496 kWh sold

Snow in 2002, aside from causing power outages, displayed a beautiful scene at the Gray office.

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The 2000s

The decade started off similarly for many businesses in the year 2000.

Y2K was an event for which Tri-County had been preparing for a year and a half before December 31, 1999, yet no one knew exactly what to expect. All employees were required to work and were staged in both the Gray and Eatonton offices just in case something were to happen. At some time before midnight an outage call came in, and several linemen volunteered to respond out of boredom. It was the only incident in an otherwise quiet night with no Y2K-related problems or issues.

An ice storm took a toll on the area on January 29, 2000, causing 6,000 members to lose power.

It was a three-day restoration process costing the cooperative $65,000—75 percent of which was reimbursed by FEMA. Increased growth in the Southeast, with few additional power plants being constructed, had cooperatives in fear of lack of available energy for the summer months. A new record for kilowatt-hour sales and peak demand was set in 2000, most likely due to the growth in starter homes, subdivisions, and retail stores. In preparation, Tri-County purchased generators to produce peak power, rather than using a high amount of electric energy during peak time, which would have caused the cost of wholesale power to go up.

The new decade meant two new offices for TriCounty. The current Eatonton office opened its doors in the year 2000, with the headquarters in Gray opening its current office in 2001. It also meant member growth. In 2001, the cooperative surpassed A new headquarters office in Gray opened its doors in 2001.

CEO C. Hill Bentley and Tri-County EMC Board Chairman Tom Thompson, Jr. stand in front of the newly constructed Eatonton office.

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Still Part of It with Jerry Greene

J

erry Greene started at Tri-County as a contractor in 1985 and was hired as a full-time employee in 1986. He started as an equipment operator and worked numerous jobs, including right-of-way, warehouse supervisor, and crew leader.

“I consider the day I got hired here one of the best days of my life,” said Jerry.

Donald Appling and Jerry formed a friendship when he worked here because they were always working together. “We

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The 2000s

were the first ones to get here and the last ones to leave,” said Jerry. “We didn’t really have a title. If it needed doing, we did it.”

Jerry remembers working outages in the dispatch office. He said the dispatch office was one of the best things to happen to Tri-County. Before then, linemen’s wives played a major part in outage restoration.

“Before dispatch, the linemen’s home numbers were published in the newsletters. So when there was an outage and you left your house, your wife was left to take the phone calls. In bad outages, the wives would take phone calls all night and still have to go to work at their own job the next day. And they didn’t make a dime answering those phones.”

He also remembers the snow of 1993.

“I worked forty-eight hours straight.

And that was the coldest and most tired I’ve ever been,” he said. Back then he was working in Eatonton. For outage restoration, he had a crew that consisted of two right-of-way employees, James Curry and Jerome Bryant. All he had was a right-of-way truck, but by the end of the storm he had converted the right-of-way truck to a line truck by equipping it with all the right tools to help restore power.

Even through the years of hard work, Jerry still thinks of Tri-County fondly and always enjoys stopping by for a visit.

“Tri-County has been a blessing to me,” said Jerry. “Even though I’m retired, I still feel like I’m part of it.”

17,200 member accounts. To account for the continued growth in the area, a new substation was built at Forest Lake in Baldwin County.

Upgrades were made on existing substations to increase voltage from 7,200 to 14,400 volts, increasing the efficiency of the distribution system.

The idea of green power and renewable energy was beginning to make waves. In August of 2001, Green Power EMC formed and gave members the option to choose how their energy was generated. This program was Georgia’s first renewable energy program offered by a utility and subsequently became Green-e certified. While the cost was slightly higher per kilowatt-hour, the member would receive “clean” energy while supporting the research effort for renewable resources.

Commitment to community continued to be an important aspect to the cooperative. In 2001, the board of directors elected to start Operation Roundup. This program would allow members to round their bill up to the next dollar with contributed funds going to worthy projects in the

The Tri-County EMC Foundation board poses for a photo in 2001. This board was developed to oversee the Operation Roundup grant program.

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community. Since then, the Tri-County EMC Foundation has provided home repair, medical needs, youth education scholarships, food, and many other service needs in the Tri-County area through those funds. The passing of House Bill 431 in 2005 allowed the cooperative to use unclaimed capital credits in areas of economic development and education. Since then, more than $400,000 has been donated to economic development and education projects within the service area. It was through House Bill 431 that the Bright Ideas Grant program formed in 2008. This program gives grants to teachers for innovative projects that would otherwise go unfunded. The program continues to grow, with more than $125,000 granted at the time of this publication.

Technology paved the way for many new programs in recent years, including pay•your•way prepay metering, smart meters, electronic bill pay, PaySiteTM Kiosks, online voting, an IVR system, and an OMS. In 2006, Tri-County EMC began implementing a smart meter system called TWACS (Two-Way Automated Communication System). Purchased primarily as the cooperative’s next generation of automated meter reading, the system has become the backbone for gathering and utilizing energy usage data. Using the coop’s power lines to communicate, TWACS collects hourly data from homes and businesses and transmits information back and forth between the cooperative and the meter. From outage reporting to providing members with daily usage information on the website and apps, TWACS helps Tri-County members manage their accounts and monitor energy usage.

Prepay metering, pay•your•way, allows members to purchase electricity as they would purchase groceries and pay for the electricity they will use up front. Members can avoid having to pay a deposit before opening a new account and can pay a small portion of any existing debt each time they make a payment on their account without interrupting their electric service.

This program has helped the cooperative recover more than $152,000 in bad debt. Members can pay their bill over the phone, at either office, at one of several PaySiteTM Kiosk locations in the service area, on the website, or using the myTCEMC mobile app. By 2014, there were more than 1,050 members participating in pay•your•way.

The safety of our members and our employees continues to be a priority.

The coop celebrated having no lost time accidents from 2004 to 2012.

Each month, employees participate in safety meetings. Linemen get daily safety briefings and are evaluated on our safety measures at random times throughout the year. The safety program also reaches into the community with the cooperative providing high-voltage demonstrations in schools and electric safety training to first responders.

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The 2000s

This screen capture shows a visual representation of the outages and assigned crews from the cooperative’s outage management system on Thursday, February 13, 2014. Winter Storm Pax dealt a severe blow to the TriCounty EMC system causing 79 percent of the members to lose power.

The ice accumulation from Winter Storm Pax caused many trees and power lines to snap.

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The Integrated Voice Recording System (IVR) and the Outage Management System (OMS) both went online in 2013. Winter Storm Pax in January of 2014 provided the ultimate test of these systems, with power outages affecting 79 percent of the service area. The OMS provided an online outage map allowing members to easily see what areas were affected and when crews were dispatched to the scene. The IVR system allowed members to report their outages without waiting to speak to a live person. While employees are available twenty-four/seven, the IVR system helped to manage more than 21,000 phone calls during the fourday power restoration process after the ice storm.

And now, there is an app for all of your Tri-County needs. A word that was not even recognizable seventy-five years ago is now a common term in today’s society. The app allows you to access your Tri-County account at your fingertips, twenty-four hours a day.

Increasing energy costs continue to be an issue, with a rate increase taking place in early 2014. With multiple regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency affecting the process of generating clean energy, prices continue to rise. Construction continued for Units 3 and 4 at Plant Vogtle, the first nuclear plants to be constructed in the U.S. in thirty years. Through Oglethorpe Power, Georgia’s EMCs will own 30 percent of these two units. While a controversial fuel, nuclear continues to be the cleanest, most efficient form of fuel to produce electricity.

Annual meetings continue to be a tradition. While appliance demonstrations and giveaways are no longer the main focus of meeting, members still gather, either in person or via mail, to cast their vote in the election of the board of directors each year. In 2013, Tri-County members were given the option to cast their ballots online for the first time. About 15 percent of members voted electronically in the first year and overall participation increased by 63 percent.

There have been countless changes in the cooperative over the past seventy-five years, but the main principle remains the same. The cooperative, owned by its members, is here to deliver reliable electricity to its members at the lowest possible cost.

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The 2000s

Working With Heart with Geraldine Williams, wife of Robert Williams

G

eraldine Williams was married to the late Robert Williams, a former lineman at Tri-County.

“This was his first job out of the service, and he loved it at Tri-County,” said Geraldine.

While linemen were able to see the joy on people’s faces when the lights came on, they also had to meet upset members when they had to cut lights off. “Sometimes he had to cut people’s lights off for nonpayment. And he really had a hard time with that, especially when children were involved,” said Geraldine. “Sometimes

he’d drive the member to wherever they could get some money so he wouldn’t have to cut their lights off.”

She remembers Robert’s dedication.

“They had to dig all those pole holes by hand. And sometimes he’d be gone for days during storms, but he never stopped until all the lights came on.”

“Robert loved his time at Tri-County and all the guys he worked with. They always looked after each other,” she said.

Robert worked at Tri-County EMC for forty years.

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Tri-County EMC lineman Mike Hulett builds service to a new member. From 2000 to 2007, the cooperative saw tremendous growth throughout the service territory.

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The 2000s

Employees gather for a group photo in 2005 for the cooperative’s annual report.

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It Was the Most Remarkable Thing with Billy and Martha Waller

B

illy and Martha Waller both grew up on farms in different parts of Putnam County in the 1930s. Both saw rural electrification come to Putnam County. And life brought them together decades later as they were married in 2013.

“I recently commented on just how beautiful the snow was this winter,” said Martha, “but Billy told me, you wouldn’t think that if you grew up on a dairy farm and had to get up at three or four in the morning to milk cows by lantern light.”

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The 2000s

Billy Waller grew up on a dairy farm in Flat Rock in southern Putnam County right along Highway 441. Across the street was Waller’s Store, the country store his father ran.“I lived in an old country home up until age seven. We had carbide lights. But then we moved to a bigger house and farm and the only light we had was from lanterns.”

Martha’s family lived in the Pea Ridge Road area, and her father built a Delco electrical system, a gasoline-powered generator that provided electric power. But she remembers the ice box. “We would go

to town to get a fifty-pound block of ice from the ice house and tie it to the front bumper of the car. We would put it in the ice box and that’s how we would keep everything cool. It was the most remarkable thing to get an electric refrigerator and not have to get ice for that ice box.”

The home’s kitchen was running throughout the day, and for much of the year was a very hot place. The wood stove was used for cooking and heating water, which was used for bathing and washing clothes. The fireplace was used for heat and to heat hand-irons for ironing clothes.

“The windows and doors stood open all of the time,” said Billy. “But with no fans, it stayed hot in there. My job was to keep firewood for the fireplaces and stove. No wood meant no heat and no food.”

One of the interesting aspects of rural life was communication. Prior to electricity, most received news by word of mouth or, for some, a newspaper, which was usually received by mail a day later.

Messages were also often left at Waller’s Store. “The farm bell was also how we communicated. You rang the bell at lunch time, so if you heard a farm bell at any other time, you knew that someone was in trouble, someone was hurt, or a house was on fire,” said Billy. “I remember my father coming home to tell my mother that Pearl Harbor had been bombed on Sunday afternoon.” According to Martha, “Once we got electricity, a radio stayed on all of the time. We listened to WSB in Atlanta. It brought the world into our house.”

“I was thirteen years old when we got electricity,” said Billy. “I came home from

school one day, and the lights were on. We used the Aladdin lanterns in the house and the dairy barn. We didn’t know how bright light could actually be until we saw those electric lights.”

With no electricity on the farm, the family milked thirty-five cows by hand and used well water to cool the milk. And all of the water to clean the barn had to be pumped by hand. Filled milk cans were placed by the road for the milk truck to pick up. “Ideally, you wanted to cool the milk to forty-five degrees, but with no refrigeration, it was impossible to cool it that much with well water. Sanitary rules have really changed. We just got it to the creamery as fast as we could. They would pretty much take the milk as long as it had not soured.” The creamery in town had electricity where milk could be cooled. Martha’s family owned a trucking company that took the collected milk from Putnam County to Atlanta.

“Once we had electricity, we bought milking machines and a refrigerator to replace the ice box.” said Billy. “But one of the most exciting things was the electric pump for the well. I stood out there for many hours pumping water to fill the trough for the cows. I just kept filling that bucket until all of the cows had something to drink.” And electric pumps cut the time it took to milk the herd in half.

For the store, getting electricity was a tremendous change. “We put in electric gas pumps, electric lights, and electric coolers for drinks and fresh meats,” said Billy. “We even had ice cream.”

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History of Willie Wiredhand

W

illie Wiredhand first entered the homes of cooperative members during the 1950s. He was the electric cooperative mascot there to spread the message that electricity is like the hired hand in the home. Electricity was there to make life simpler in the home, on the farm, and in businesses.

Willie consists of a light socket for a head and a plug for his body and was recognized for many years as the poster-boy for electric membership cooperatives.

Although Willie’s presence is not quite as prominent as it once was, for many years he helped get the word out to electric cooperative members regarding safety tips, ways to use energy safely, and general coop news. He was even depicted in TriCounty’s first logo.

Willie was designed in October of 1953 by Andrew McClay, a freelance artist at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Washington, D.C. In those days, advertising was really taking the scene. Willie was in good company with hundreds of advertising characters promoting numerous products and services. Willie had the added challenge of advertising and promoting an intangible product—electricity.

During the early days, Willie taught members different uses for electricity. By the energy crisis of the 1970s, there was no need to promote energy use. Willie’s focus shifted from promoting energy use to energy conservation. Willie was often depicted performing many DIY projects around the house that could save energy.

From caulking a home, to wearing a sweater, Willie was willing to share many energy tips.

At Tri-County, Willie was an important part of the cooperative family. He would often participate in the Dairy Festival Parade in Eatonton and local Christmas parades and attended many annual meetings of the cooperative. He was featured in numerous newsletter articles throughout the years and became a recognizable figure for cooperative members.

Where Do We Go from Here?

“Where do we go from here?” is a good question to ask, but another, in my mind, is, “Has Tri-County’s mission changed from its founding?” A better question might be, “Is the cooperative business model the proper vehicle to tackle the challenges of the next seventy-five years?”

Tri-County EMC’s original purpose was to provide reliable electric power at the lowest possible cost. That charge holds true today. The only differences are the technology improvements that we use every day and the reliability requirements that we all take for granted. In the early years, you would mail a postcard in if your power went out. Today, a “blink” anywhere on the system causes a major inconvenience and in some cases, a financial hardship for our members. Technology is a doubleedged sword. We depend on it to power everything we do in our daily lives. But this increased use dictates higher levels of uninterrupted electric energy and much closer tolerances on power quality.

Specialized employees are necessary to operate today’s Tri-County EMC. Efficiency demands that each employee be able to master these new, ever-changing technologies. They must be able to multi-task and constantly learn new techniques and procedures. It truly is a “grow or die” work environment. Competitive salaries and benefits are necessary to attract and retain this new generation of utility professionals.

The backbone of the system, the poles, wires, buildings, etc., change very little, but the technology that controls the flow of electrons is constantly evolving. Think of it like your cell phone. A few years ago, they were a luxury with basic functionality.

Today, they are miniature control centers that operate every facet of our business and our lives. With each passing day, new apps are created to give us access to everything we do.

Cooperatives can be traced back to 1844. But, they are more relevant today than ever before. They operate on seven basic principles: 1. Voluntary and open membership, 2. Democratic member control, 3. Members’ economic participation, 4. Autonomy and independence, 5. Education, training, and information, 6.

Cooperation among cooperatives, and 7. Concern for community. What better business plan to continue the legacy Tri-County EMC has established over the last seventy-five years? Our mission and vision are clear.

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Where Do We Go from Here?

MISSION Tri-County EMC will provide exceptional energy services. “Exceptional” means striving to exceed each member’s expectations, actively seeking to provide innovative products and services, and always remembering we are owned by those we serve.

VISION Tri-County EMC will continually assess the electric industry and adopt what is beneficial to the members.

This model has served Tri-County members well since the beginning in 1939 and will continue to do so in the next chapter of our history. Our story has been shaped by employees, retired and present, and by the direction our members have provided through the boards they have elected. The last cooperative principle, Concern for Community, ties us to the future, the future that the late Walter Harrison spoke of when he said, “The golden years of our program will be the hardest. The missionary days are over, the honeymoon was sweet, we are now of age and on our own. Can we measure up to our obligations?” There will be no more days when the lights came on. There are few left to remember them. But every day the cooperative, through programs like Operation Roundup, economic development efforts, a scholarship received, a future leader born, or help given to a fledgling business, touches lives.

Hill Bentley, CEO, Tri-County EMC

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About the Authors About the Authors Kim Bonner began working as Communications Specialist at Tri-County EMC in October of 2011. Before working at the cooperative, she attended the University of Georgia and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism in 2008. She then completed an internship at Southern Living Magazine in Birmingham, Alabama. She subsequently relocated to Macon, Georgia, to work as the marketing and communications manager for the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce. At the cooperative, she manages grant and scholarship programs, public relations and communications efforts, and all youth leadership opportunities. In her spare time, Kim enjoys running, live music, hunting for antiques, and attempting to cook a good meal.

Greg Mullis currently serves as Senior Vice President of Energy Services. He began his career at Tri-County EMC in October of 1991 as the cooperative’s energy services representative, shortly after receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English from Mercer University. Greg manages Tri-County EMC’s conservation and efficiency programs, economic development efforts, public relations, communications, and information technologies. He has been active in local, regional, and statewide economic development and workforce development. He is an accomplished musician and photographer and his other hobbies include golf, tennis, and following his kids from one activity to the next.

Bibliography Bibliography Current Lines. Tri-County Electric Membership Corporation. Gray, GA: 1941-2014.

Electric Consumer Online. Indianapolis, IN, http://www.electricconsumer.org.

Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Warm Springs, GA, http://gastateparks.org/ LittleWhiteHouse.

Georgia Magazine, formerly Rural Georgia. Tucker, GA, http://www.georgiamagazine.org.

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) website, 2005-2012. Arlington, VA, http://www.nreca.coop.

The Next Greatest Thing. National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Washington, DC: October 1984.

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About the Authors

THE POWER OF YOU — A 75 YEAR HISTORY OF TRI-COUNTY EMC

ABOUT TRI-COUNTY EMC

T

ri-County EMC , headquartered in Gray, Georgia, is one of 41 electric cooperatives in Georgia that will celebrate 75 years of service this decade. The electric membership cooperative, incorporated in 1939, has grown from 40 miles of line with 273 members in 1940, to more than 2,000 miles of line and 16,000 members. And electricity has changed from a privilege to a necessity.

There have ben many changes in the cooperative since 1939, but the main goal of Tri-County EMC remains the same — to provide reliable service to members at the lowest possible cost.

KIM BONNER & GREG MULLIS

Located in middle Georgia, Tri-County EMC provides power to eight counties.

Throughout the years, the cooperative has developed into an organization that not only provides power but also serves as a pillar in the community by providing youth and leadership development; education and information on energy efficiency, conservation, and renewables; and educational and economic development leadership and funding.