Who Is SEPA?

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.