The annual meeting is an important part of the cooperative business model. Part of the value of being a member-owner of CFEMC is the opportunity to participate in the election of the board of directors. This year, the nominating committee appointed Mildred A. Winkles (Seat 3, Coweta County), Donald E. Harris (Seat 4, Coweta County) and Alice J. Mallory (Seat 4, Fayette County) to serve three-year terms. The nominating committee received no other candidates for consideration. As such, these incumbents were re-elected to the positions.
The business-only event offered members the opportunity to vote to approve the minutes from the 2023 Annual Meeting and to register for this year’s grand prize – a $1,000 credit on their CFEMC electricity bill – and receive their member gift, a multi-device charger. Members were also given the opportunity to register early the week prior (October 7-14) at the co-op’s headquarters and branch offices.
More than 2,800 people participated in the event and/or registered and voted during the weeks prior. Business session updates and the drawing for the grand prize winner were streamed live via Facebook during the event. The recording of the business session and drawing as well as the virtual business meeting speeches and election can be seen on CFEMC’s website, www.utility.org.
In his speech to members, Board Chairman Neal Shepard shared highlights from the past year and reiterated his belief in the role electric cooperatives, like Coweta-Fayette EMC, play right here in Georgia and across the nation.
“I believe electric cooperatives play a pivotal role in delivering essential services across this nation,” said Shepard. “But it’s more than just simply providing power– strategic planning and leadership are crucial elements as we navigate the complex energy sector and leverage new technologies designed to meet our memberships’ evolving needs while still ensuring we can deliver reliable and affordable energy.
“We must do this while facing increasing challenges thanks to shifting regulations and the political landscape. These changes have significant impact on CFEMC’s operational cost and the reliability of our nation’s power supply. We have been a supporter of renewable energy for over 20 years. In fact, CFEMC was one of the first electric cooperatives to embrace solar and we’ve continued to support and be a champion of renewable resources and the technologies which make them more efficient. However, they are not the sole solution to our future energy needs. We must continue to use a variety of fuel sources to produce electricity so that we can meet the growing needs of our members today and in the future.”
Shepard concluded by urging members to stay informed about how energy policy can impact your EMC and your own access to energy in the future.
CFEMC CEO Chris Stephens shared how 2024 was one of challenges and successes.
“Rising costs have impacted all of us, and these economic pressures have also affected our cooperative and the cost to serve our members,” Stephens said. “This year, we had our first base rate adjustment since 2007. This decision was not made lightly but is necessary to maintain the infrastructure required to deliver reliable electricity. Our cost-of-service study we conducted has shown that this adjustment will help us continue to serve you effectively and affordably, while keeping our operations sustainable.
“However, we have been fortunate this year that our energy costs have been lower than budgeted. As a result, we are able to reduce our power cost adjustment and pass the savings back to you. We anticipate this reduction in our adjustment to run through the end of this year and return to near zero in January of 2025.”
Stephens also shared that CFEMC rates are lower than many of our neighboring utilities and we remain in good financial strength moving forward into 2025.
“Coweta-Fayette EMC is financially sound and we continue to provide some of the lowest energy rates in Georgia. Our rates are significantly lower than the investor-owned and many municipal systems in our service area, ensuring that our members continue to benefit from affordable electricity. This has been possible through the fiscal management of your Board and the CFEMC staff, strategic planning, an effective hedging program, and long-term power agreements. In August 2024, the CFEMC Board of Directors approved the retirement of capital credits, totaling just over $3 million, for all members who received electric service from CFEMC in 2004, 2006 and 2023. CFEMC remains on a 20-year retirement cycle. With this refund, Coweta-Fayette EMC has returned over $50 million in Member Capital Credits since 1994.”
We encourage all members to listen to the full business session and check out the updates from True Natural Gas and the Coweta-Fayette EMC Trust Board, which manages the Operation Round Up program, online at https://utility.org/annual-meeting/.
The business session concluded with the awarding of the grand prize. Becky Crawford was the lucky winner of a $1,000 CFEMC electric bill credit.
Coweta-Fayette EMC is a member-owned energy company, serving over 82,000 accounts, headquartered in Palmetto, Ga. Coweta-Fayette EMC is an equal opportunity provider and employer /M/F/Y/D