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Story Contact: Blake House
Georgia’s emcs INVEST mORE THAN $17 MILLION TO help members rEDUCE dEMAND AND save energy (Cumming, GA, April 28, 2009) – Throughout 2008, Georgia’s Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs), including Sawnee EMC, spent a total of $17.2 million on programs that reduced electricity demand by 173 MW, an 11 percent increase in demand reduction from 2007, and created energy savings of 34,580,000 kWhs, an increase in savings of 21 percent from 2007, according to a recent study. The study, 2009 EMC Demand Side Management, Energy Conservation, and Energy Efficiency Report, produced annually by Georgia EMC and downloadable at Sawnee EMC’s web site (http://www.sawnee.com/pdf/emcdemand.pdf), documents the success of EMCs across the state in a collective effort relating to energy efficiency, energy conservation, and demand side management (DSM) activities and quantifies the potential effects those activities have on reducing demand in the state of Georgia. “We attribute the increase in energy savings to our members assuming greater responsibility in managing their energy usage, both because of economic pressures and in response to our constant communications about how consumer usage affects plans for future generation resources,” says Blake House at Sawnee EMC. “We tailor our DSM programs to meet our members’ needs; with the most popular programs including energy audits, and a host of efficiency incentives and rebates for commercial and residential members,” he says. The EMC statewide study also shows that 100 percent of the state’s electric cooperatives now provide green energy in their overall generation resource mix to members. Sawnee EMC offers its customers renewable electricity through Green Power EMC, a non-profit cooperative formed by electric cooperatives to promote renewable energy from Georgia-based resources, which include landfill gas, hydro, solar demos, and biomass. “There are limited opportunities for renewable resources in Georgia,” says Mr. House, “However, through our participation in Green Power EMC, we not only provide green energy for our members, we invest in research to assess the potential for further renewable resources and in the education of our state’s citizen students through the Sun Power for Schools program.” Out of 42 EMCs, 38 offer renewable electricity through Green Power EMC; three (3) receive power from TVA and participate in TVA’s Green Power Switch; and one (1) receives renewable energy from a local farmer that uses an anaerobic digester to produce electricity. “Our energy efficiency, energy conservation, and demand side management programs help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help defer the need for building additional power plants, and help reduce transmission and operating costs,” says Mr. House. ABOUT NAME SAWNEE EMC Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation is an electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Cumming, Georgia. Sawnee serves electricity to over 148,000 accounts in seven (7) counties in greater north Georgia. Sawnee’s assets exceed $467 million, with average annual energy sales of three (3) billion kWh and annual revenue of $291 million. With a team of approximately 300 dedicated professionals and over 9,800 miles of distribution facilities, Sawnee stands ready to meet the needs of its member/owners…At Sawnee, We’re More Than Electricity, We’re Service. ABOUT GEORGIA EMC Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state’s 42 EMCs, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, Georgia Transmission Corporation and Georgia System Operations Corporation Collectively, Georgia’s customer-owned EMCs provide electricity and related services to four million people, nearly half of Georgia’s population, across 73 percent of the state’s land area. Georgia's EMCs now serve more customers than any other state network of EMCs in the nation. |