MG_NL_0206

February 2006

Middle Georgia EMC Newsletter

Member Newsletter

Middle Georgia

The Official Newsletter of Middle Georgia Electric Membership Corporation

P.O. Box 190, Vienna, GA 31092

February 2006

MANAGER'S

Comments

By Hugh Richardson

estoring power is not new to us, especially since

we are in our 66th year of operation and our

second and third generation of employees. Storms
such as the 1973 snow storm, the 1983 ice storm, the
1993 blizzard, the 1994 flood, and tropical storms
Frances and Jeanne in 2004 have provided us plenty
of experience.

However, we have a newly written ERP in place

as required for all EMCs. This is an enhancement of
our old extreme storm plan and it adds the strategy
of restoration after the possibility of terrorist threats to
our electrical system. This plan followed a Vulnera-
bility & Risk Assessment that we completed last year.

Technology has slightly eased our restoration

efforts with the automat-
ic meter reading system
and our outage manage-
ment system. We have
also learned from the catastrophic losses our neigh-
boring states have had in the past year from hurri-
cane damage.

The ERP basically sets guidelines for us to use

and follow so that power restoration will be complet-
ed as safely and quickly as possible. We must also
review the plan and conduct training drills each year.

Is this overkill? Probably not. I'm banking on the

theory that the more we are prepared, the less
chance anything catastrophic will happen.

Emergency Restoration Plan (ERP)

iddle Georgia EMC's 2005 Employees of the

Year were Kylie Jacobs and Gary Fowler. We

had a tie this year and two very worthy people won
the honor of being named Employee of the Year.

Other honorable mentions were: Ann Evans, Linda
Quick, Daniel Bloodworth, Henry Bellew, Ricky
Boyd, Lisa Laney, Joe Tripp, Doug Powell, William
Smith and Danny Goss.

Employees of the Year

GEORGIA MAGAZINE

Middle Georgia EMC Newsletter

Years of Service

Recognition

Years of Service

Recognition

Years of service recognition for Middle Georgia EMC's

employees who celebrated an anniversary in January

2006:

John McAnally

, First Class Lineman, is celebrating

his 25th year;

Mike McGee

, Manager of Operations &

Engineering, is celebrating his 19th year;

Ricky Boyd

First Class Lineman, is celebrating his 17th year;

Linda

Quick

, Plant Accountant, is celebrating her 5th year; and

both

Wes Bennett,

GIS & Network Administration, and

Laurie Mincey,

Cashier in Hawkinsville office, are cele-

brating their 4th years here at Middle Georgia EMC.

Did you

KNOW

Did you

oal continues to be the main source of

generation for utilities across the country.

For electric cooperatives and their member-

owners, it fuels 80 percent of the electricity

generated. Nuclear power accounts for 13 per-

cent, and natural gas accounts for 7 percent.

Nationally, coal accounts for 50 percent of all

generation capacity. Nuclear accounts for

about 20 percent, natural gas for 18 percent

and hydropower for 7 percent.

--Source: NRECA & Energy Information

Administration

Congratulations to Daniel and Lauren

Bloodworth on the birth of their second daughter,
Jordan Sinclaire, on Dec. 27. Big sister Jaden will
have someone to play dress-up with now!

ur 2005 Christmas card winner was

Sydney Carr from Ms. McClung's Fifth

Grade Class at Hawkinsville Elementary
School. Sydney is pictured here with Robert
Herman, Middle Georgia EMC's Member
Services Supervisor.

Christmas card winner

e would like to extend a warm

welcome to Middle Georgia EMC's

newest employee, Tony Brown. Tony

started here Dec. 5 as Equipment Operator.

New employee welcomed

Middle Georgia EMC Newsletter

Board of Directors

Don Wood

President

Johnny Noble

Vice President

Kay West

Secretary

Ronnie Youngblood

Treasurer

John David McCall

Director

Jerry F. Rhodes

Director

Royce Conner

Director

Ronnie Fleeman

Director

David Dunaway

Director

Davis and Forehand

Attorneys

Staff

Hugh Richardson

General Manager

Lisa Laney

Executive Secretary,

Newsletter Editor

Randy Kent

Office Manager

Mike McGee

Manager of Operations

and Engineering

Vienna Area (229) 268-2671

Rochelle

(Day) (229) 365-2263
(Night) 1-800-342-0144

Hawkinsville

(Day) (478) 892-3436
(Night) 1-800-342-0144

Office Hours

Mon-Fri 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

(Branch offices closed from

12-1 p.m. daily)

Closed Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

There is a dispatcher on call 24 hours

a day for your convenience.

GEORGIA MAGAZINE

ere's a simple test to make sure the ground-fault

circuit interrupters in your home are working

properly:

Plug a night light into a GFCI-protected wall
outlet and turn it on. If you have a circuit-
breaker GFCI, plug in a radio and turn it
up loud.

Press the GFCI test button. The light or radio should go off.

Press the reset feature to restore power.

If this test fails, contact a licensed electrician to correct the problem
or to install a new GFCI.

Test your GFC

eep abreast of important electrical product

recall news by regularly checking in with

the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) and other federal agen-
cies that maintain an inter-agency recalls page
at www.recalls.gov. Electrical product recalls are
found by clicking on the "Consumer Products" section.

A few of the latest recalls on the Web site include:

The CPSC and Whirlpool Corporation of Michigan issued a recall of
approximately 529,000 KitchenAid coffeemakers sold nationwide
from January 1999 through December 2004. An internal electrical
component in the coffeemakers can overheat and ignite, posing a
fire hazard.

The CPSC and Whirlpool Corporation have recalled 40,000 KitchenAid
and ProLine toasters sold between August 2003 and January 2005.
Interruptions in the power supply can turn the heating element on,
causing flammable items left on top of the toaster to ignite.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Apple Computer
Inc., of California have recalled 128,000 rechargeable batteries for
iBook G4 and Powerbook G4 computers sold between October 2004
and May 2005. An internal short can cause the battery cells to over-
heat, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

The Consumer Products section includes appliances, clothing, elec-

tronic/electrical products, furniture, household and children's products,
lighting, outdoor, sports and exercise equipment. Other headings on the
main recalls page are motor vehicles, boats, food, medicine, cosmetics
and environmental products. All are found at www.recalls.gov.

--Source: CPSC

Product recalls and
electrical safety in the home