According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the elimination of tax exemption would raise borrowing costs by a projected $833 billion between 2026 and 2035, a cost that would be passed onto taxpayers and lead to a $6,555 tax and rate increase for each American household over the next decade.

We’re working with our industry and government partners to educate Congress on the important role these bonds have played in public power communities in Georgia and across the country. Tax-exempt bonds have enabled economic development and raised standards of living to millions, thanks to their low cost of capital and risk profile.

It was a $450 million in tax-exempt bond offerings in 1977 that enabled MEAG Power to purchase its first ownership stake in Plants Vogtle, Hatch, Wansley and Sherer, starting us on the path to delivery of reliable, affordable wholesale power to Participant communities. Subsequent tax-exempt bonds allowed us to acquire our other generation and transmission assets. To say tax-exempt financing has played an important role in the growth and prosperity of our 49 Participant communities across Georgia is an understatement.

We will continue to monitor this issue closely. We may call on your voices as representatives of our Participant communities to help advocate for keeping this vital form of financing for America’s towns and cities.

GMA and Georgia Trend look at enhanced livability and economic vitality as the primary award criteria. Hogansville and Thomaston exhibited excellence in civic engagement, innovative problem-solving, inclusivity, cross-sector collaboration, and the development of sustainable, long-term community initiatives.

Hogansville

In Hogansville, the restoration of the Royal Theater, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been a catalyst for downtown revitalization. It’s providing new opportunities for cultural engagement and economic growth.

Constructed in 1937, the Royal was once the largest movie theater north of Columbus, with nearly 900 seats. After years of having served as City Hall, Hogansville set about restoring the theater to its original purpose in 2018, as part of a Downtown Master Plan. The Royal reopened in late 2024.

Hogansville Mayor Jake Ayers commented, “There’s something about taking these old buildings that are falling apart and bringing them back that is so inspiring.”

Thomaston

The Visionary Cities Award celebrated the Pathways Internship Program in Thomaston for its ability to help attract graduates to a role in public service, especially key administrative and public safety positions. The program provides an 8-week paid internship and a college-level work-study opportunity to high school, college and graduate students.

The aim of Pathways is to prepare local students for civic leadership by giving them exposure to various departments within the municipality, fostering tomorrow’s decision-makers, problem solvers, and change agents in the community. Now in its second year, applications for the program jumped from 30 in its first year to more than 90.

“For us it’s all about growing our workforce and cultivating civic engagement at the grassroots level,” said Danielle Jefferson, human resources director for Thomaston.

Previous Participant Visionary City winners include Covington in 2024, Camilla, LaGrange and Norcross in 2023, Acworth, Covington, Lawrenceville and Moultrie in 2022, Douglas and Griffin in 2021, and Adel, Hogansville, Marietta and Thomasville in 2020.

MEAG Power was born out of the desire of the Power Section members of the Georgia Municipal Association, known as the Electric Cities, to better control their energy future at a time when load growth was outpacing available generation and they were dependent on a single private utility for supply of increasingly costly electricity.

The opportunity arose in 1974 for public power organizations in Georgia to acquire electricity directly from Plants Hatch and Vogtle, new nuclear projects that were in development. This required the creation of a legal Authority to function as an electric utility that could buy shares of ownership in the plants and supply the power to the members.

Once created, 47 of the 51 qualifying Electric Cities signed long-term power sales agreements with the Authority, with the city of Oxford joining in 1986 and Acworth joining in 2002.

Today, MEAG Power is recognized as a leading joint action agency in the U.S., with a diverse, clean energy portfolio – delivering, on average, 65% emissions-free energy since 2016 – that compares favorably with both state and national averages. It has 2,300 MW of total capacity from nuclear, natural gas and coal resources, with its first solar initiative under construction, and manages 398 MW of hydro capacity on behalf of the Participants. MEAG Power also owns 1,300 miles of high voltage transmission, more than 210 substations, and is a co-owner of the Integrated Transmission System (ITS), a 17,800-mile transmission network covering 90% of Georgia.

Recently, both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly recognized and commended MEAG Power upon the occasion of the 50th anniversary, celebrating its enduring contributions to the Participant communities it serves and the State of Georgia as a whole.

Our success in fulfilling this mission is a testament to the dedication and hard work of MEAG Power’s Board members and employees throughout the years, and the trust and support of our Participants. We thank the Participants for their long-held partnerships, and we look forward to continuing to serve their needs for many years to come.

Steve was a trusted and valued member of MEAG Power’s Board, having been an integral part of many important decisions that were made over the years. His focus on the organization’s mission to deliver reliable, affordable power to the Participant communities never wavered.

Valedictorian of his graduating class at Crisp County High School, Steve earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech before going to work for Duke Power’s nuclear plant design group. He then worked in Georgia Power’s substation engineering department before joining the Crisp County Power Commission in 1977 as an engineer.

He became General Manager of the Crisp County Power Commission in 1992, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2020. In addition to serving on MEAG Power’s Board, Steve was a former board member of ECG, a member of the Cordele/Crisp Chamber Board of Directors, a member and past President of the Cordele Lions Club, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Public Power Association (APPA). In 2022, Steve received the prestigious James D. Donovan Achievement Award from the APPA, which recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the electric utility industry and to public power.

MEAG Power is grateful for his many contributions and celebrates the lasting impact he has had on our organization.

Did you know MEAG Power offers complimentary substation training for Participants’ local law enforcement and fire departments – including both a classroom presentation and site visit to a substation?

The training, which counts for 2-4 hours of POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) credit for officers, provides insights into:

• Georgia’s Electrical Grid
• Substation Overview
• Substation Safety and Awareness
• Recent Events and Growing Threats
• Response and Communication Plans
• Review of Local Substations

The training is important as physical security incidents at electric utility facilities have been on the rise in recent years. From 2022 to 2023, there was a 68% rise in these occurrences according to the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC). In one example, stolen copper grounds led to an outage of 10,000 customers. In another, ballistic damage to transmission line conductors led to an outage of more than 15,000 customers and $60,000 in damages.

In fact, the increase in attacks on utility substations across the country led the Georgia Assembly to pass House Bill 227 in 2023. It calls for 1 to 10 years in prison for offenders who interfere with any property in a manner so as to endanger human life, and 2 to 20 years in prison for offenders who interfere with the proper operation of critical infrastructure with the intention of disrupting service with either force, violence or by electronic means.

Attendees will learn about substation equipment like transformers, regulators, switches and capacitor banks. They also will learn how to gain access to a substation, what to do before entering any substation, how to safely navigate the substation grounds, and what to do in case of a security breach.

The substation visit is especially informative as law enforcement can locate hazardous substances including batteries, gases used in breakers and switches, and nitrogen tanks.

Those interested in the training for their community should reach out to their Regional Manager to schedule a session.

MEAG Power hosted its 30^th Mayors Summit in November. This year’s event was especially notable as it came at a time when energy demand is predicted to rise more rapidly than it has in years. MEAG Power CEO Jim Fuller’s talk included the following graph from the Department of Energy that showed past and future demand growth.

What’s at issue for Georgia and the rest of the U.S. is that summer peak demand is predicted to increase 10% between 2022-2032, while summer peak supply is only supposed to rise 4%, which includes currently planned capacity additions.

Much of the increase in energy demand will come from energy-intensive data centers, where Georgia has become a hotbed. In fact, the metro Atlanta region has the most data centers under construction of any comparable city in the U.S.

We’re seeing data center load requests come into our Participant communities as large as 50 MW up to 1 GW. Such sizeable loads can pose a significant risk for an individual city. However, cities that join together in a new generation project can take on these opportunities while spreading risk and rewards in a manageable fashion.

The growth in data centers is being fueled by AI, a topic presented by Alex Salkever, an author, AI expert and former BusinessWeek editor. He noted that Microsoft alone is on track to add a new data center every three days worldwide! While this poses obvious risks to grid reliability and the availability of power generation, the AI boom provides opportunities to improve city infrastructure through aspects such as remote inspections of power lines and drone-assisted first response to emergency situations.

Helping ensure grid reliability for many MEAG Power Participants is the availability of hydropower from Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA). Virgil Hobbs, SEPA Administrator and Chief Executive, walked the audience through who SEPA is and what they do to support their 472 wholesale customers, who in turn serve more than 12 million consumers.

Covering the early ramifications from the recent national election was Rob Talley, President of Talley & Associates, Inc., who has helped MEAG Power and its Participants through legislative lobbying for many years. On the economic front, Dr. Roger Tutterow, Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University, gave an update on several important topics including inflation, risk of a recession, the housing and labor markets, and the potential for future rate cuts in the Federal Funds Rate.

Many MEAG Power Participants receive emissions-free hydropower provided by the Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA). Virgil Hobbs, SEPA Administrator and Chief Executive, recently presented at the MEAG Power Mayors Summit on who SEPA is and what they do to support their 472 wholesale customers, who in turn serve more than 12 million consumers.

Headquartered in Elberton, Ga., SEPA is one of four Power Marketing Administrations (PMA) in the U.S. It was founded in 1950 to support the Flood Control Act of 1944, and now reports to the Department of Energy.

SEPA markets hydroelectric power generated by federal reservoirs located in 10 southeastern states at the lowest possible cost to public bodies, municipalities and electric cooperatives in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Its responsibilities include negotiating, preparing, executing, and administering contracts for the sale and delivery of electric power. It sets and justifies rate schedules that are necessary to repay the federal government’s investments and costs to produce and transmit energy.

The organization also performs balancing authority functions, serves as a water management interface, and schedules hydropower generation to meet customer peak load schedules. Unlike other PMAs, SEPA does not own transmission lines, so it contracts with neighboring utilities to provide transmission services for the delivery of power.

For more information on SEPA, visit www.energy.gov/sepa/southeastern-power-administration.

To watch a video on the federal hydropower program, click here.

On Nov. 12, 2024, MEAG Power and several Participant communities participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Pineview Solar LCC (“Pineview”) farm, a utility-scale solar energy facility in Wilcox County, Ga. Construction is underway and the commercial operation date is expected by early 2026.

The addition of solar will further diversify MEAG Power’s resource mix, enhance reliability and provide affordable, clean energy to involved Participants. Twenty-two MEAG Power Participant communities will receive a total of 80 MW of generation from the solar park as part of a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) MEAG Power has with Pineview. The support of these Participants has been a key factor in bringing this solar project to fruition.

These communities include Albany, Blakely, Buford, Cairo, Calhoun, Camilla, Cartersville, College Park, Covington, Crisp County, Douglas, East Point, Forsyth, Griffin, LaGrange, Marietta, Monroe, Moultrie, Newnan, Palmetto, Thomasville, and Oxford.

The Pineview facility is owned by Linea Energy, a developer and operator of sustainable energy solutions, and will be constructed by Discovery Industries. It utilizes innovative technologies, including bifacial solar panels and racking equipment that tracks the sun. Bifacial panels capture sunlight on both sides of the panel, taking advantage of light reflecting off the ground, while the racking systems adjusts their tilt so that they follow the sun throughout the day, maximizing their energy production.

Incremental generation projects like Pineview will help Participant communities improve their economics, spread risk, enhance affordability and strengthen their competitiveness.