News & Press
In December, the Georgia Public Service Commission unanimously approved a cost-based formula for setting rates for attachments, such as phone or cable television, to cooperative power poles. Initially pressed to use a nationally set “FCC” rate, the Georgia Legislature asked the PSC to vote on this issue because of their expertise and resources. The PSC embraced the responsibility and ultimately spent five months learning about the complex issue.
“We applaud the PSC Commissioners and staff for the hard work. Creating a new process for setting attachment rates gives us a fair and equitable way to collect the actual costs for other utilities using our member’s power poles,” commented Ray Grinberg, Tri-County EMC’s CEO. “Ultimately, being able to collect the actual costs over the FCC rate saved Tri-County EMC members more than $300,000 per year.”
Tri-County EMC maintains about 40,000 poles across over sixteen hundred miles of line. On a statewide basis, the decision allowed more than 4 million EMC member-owners to avoid a potential energy rate increase.