Sawnee EMC Announces Another Rate Decrease
Contact: Blake House - Vice President, Member Services

(Cumming, GA, September 26, 2006) -  After pleasantly surprising its members with a decrease in its wholesale power cost adjustment (WPCA) factor last month, Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation has again announced that rates will go even lower beginning in October.  Sawnee EMC, an electric utility serving more than 140,000 accounts in seven (7) counties of northern Georgia, announced today that, effective October 5, 2006, its wholesale power cost adjustment (WPCA) factor by which members are billed will be further reduced for the balance of 2006.  “The prices that we pay for wholesale power continue to come in much better than we anticipated and we are proud to be able to pass this additional savings on to our members by effectively lowering their rates,” states Michael A. Goodroe, President and CEO of Sawnee. 

This action will affect all residential accounts and many commercial accounts served by Sawnee EMC.  The net effect of this action is to reduce the amount each member will pay for electricity for the remainder of 2006.  “We’re very excited to be lowering our purchased power factor and, in effect, our rates again.  After such a hot summer when almost everyone saw a higher power bill, our members deserve to see lower rates for the remainder of the year,” says Blake House, Vice President of Member Services for Sawnee EMC.  “Lowering the wholesale power cost adjustment again is one obvious way we can assist our members in lowering their monthly energy bill.  This action helps demonstrate to our members that we are committed to keeping rates as low as possible,” says House.

The reduction mentioned will occur in the WPCA factor, which is part of many of the various retail rate schedules by which Sawnee EMC bills electric accounts.  This change in the WPCA factor means that each account will see a reduction on their electric bill of $14.82 for every 1,500 kWh of energy used per month.  This rate reduction, coupled with the reduction last month, means that the average member could now see a savings of over $25.00 per month versus previous rates.

The actual impacts from these reductions will vary and are dependent on each member’s level of usage each month.  Mr. House added, “After this change, rates should remain constant throughout 2006 (Oct. – Dec.).  We will continue to monitor power cost very closely and, should conditions warrant, further changes may be recommended.” 

Sawnee EMC is proud of its history of serving its members/owners with competitively-priced electric service coupled with a high level of reliability throughout a variety of weather conditions.  Sawnee EMC is more than electricity, it is service. 

About Sawnee EMC:

Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation is a distribution electric cooperative headquartered in Cumming, Georgia. Sawnee serves electricity to over 140,000 accounts in northern Georgia. Sawnee assets exceed $368 million with annual energy sales of 2.23 billion kWh and revenue of $201 million. They have over 300 dedicated employees making up a team of professionals that meets the needs of the members/owners through a network of over 8,300 miles of distribution facilities in Sawnee’s complex network of distribution facilities.

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