Sign Up for Electricity from Renewable Resources

Jackson EMC members who are concerned about the environment may purchase "green energy" — electricity created from renewable resources such as biomass, solar and wind energy.

Our cooperative is one of 35 Georgia electric cooperatives to form GreenPower EMC, a nonprofit cooperative dedicated to helping preserve natural resources.  GreenPower EMC contracts for electricity generated by renewable resources, offsetting energy that would otherwise be purchased from traditional sources. We are proud to be among those EMCs offering our members subscriptions to Green Power.

Each participating EMC receives an allocation of the power generated by GreenPower EMC.  Jackson EMC members may purchase a 150-kilowatt-hour block of green energy on a first come-first-served basis.  Members who sign up for Green Power will notice an additional $4.50 charge on their bill each month, or 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, to cover the added expense of generating from a green source.  The cost to help the environment is just 15 cents a day – a small investment that will reap tremendous dividends for many years to come.

Georgia's electric cooperatives are generating power from two landfill sites, our first renewable energy projects, using methane gas that would otherwise simply be burned off.  We're also generating power from a low impact hydropower facility.  Those three projects are expected to generate about 44,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually — enough to supply about 3,700 homes or run nearly 49,000 refrigerators for a year. 

 In addition, we will purchase 20 megawatts of electricity from the state's first poultry litter-to-energy operation when it comes on line in 2007.  And, we have constructed a 60-meter-tall wind assessment tower in Floyd County to investigate the potential for wind generation as we continue the quest to add renewable energy generating capacity. 

Green Power is also giving something back to the community.  Part of the cost of each Green Power kilowatt-hour generated goes into a research and development fund, a portion of which has been used to fund the Sun Power for Schools program.  Through the program, participating schools around the state will receive photovoltaic and metering equipment that will enable students to study solar power generation and incorporate their unit's output data in classroom projects. 

If you're interested in purchasing green power, you can sign up online or contact your local Jackson EMC office.