Prepared for the Weather

November Message from Randall Pugh
President/CEO

Winter weather is on the way, and with shorter days and longer nights, curling up at home is quite tempting. While you're settling in to cozy winters, Jackson EMC is planning and training for severe weather events. From last year's ice storms, we all know firsthand that weather significantly impacts your cooperative and the way we do business.

Although weather is a force beyond our control, and difficult to predict, we have to stay prepared to keep your power flowing. When determining how much electricity is needed to meet demand, weather forecasting gives power companies an idea of how much power is consumed to cool homes during summer months, and how much is used to heat during the winte

When we experience scorching summers and bitterly cold winters, our energy demand increases. Summer is our season of peak demand, making each one-degree rise in the temperature result in a demand increase. Keeping the power flowing is critical during these times. Electricity prices are a bit higher during the summer, which is why your summer rates are slightly more than winter rates.

For electric utilities, electricity must be used or lost once it's generated. Unlike coal and other fossil fuels, electricity can't be stored; it must be created when customers demand it. Our distribution system is designed to handle the highest peak demand. The system design relies on load forecasts, which are models of the relationship of power demand, time of day, season and weather. Using the load forecast information, our engineers design our distribution system to handle disruptions, large or small.

For example, our system can handle the highest peak demand, taking into consideration the possibility that severe weather may temporarily take a substation down. If this happens, other substations can distribute their loads in addition to the loads of the downed substation. Referred to as redundancy, our system is built to handle a variety of situations. Although we may not use the facilities to their maximum capacity, we're paying for a full capacity system. Even though there is an ongoing cost to maintaining or adding to the system, our goal is to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It may cost a little more, but it's certainly worth it in the long run.

Randall Pugh
President/CEO

Questions?

Anytime you have questions, send them to P.O. Box 38, Jefferson, Ga. 30549, call 706- 367-5281 or email rpugh@jacksonemc.com.