Carroll EMC welcomed a room full of community leaders, government officials and industry figures at its recent Power Breakfast on Thursday, Dec. 5. The annual event gave a high-level report of the co-op’s biggest opportunities and challenges on a local, statewide and federal level.
To an everyday consumer, electricity is no novelty. It is considered a constant. To those in the industry, it is ever evolving, always changing, and even threatened at times. Carroll EMC’s President and CEO, Tim Martin, took time to breakdown how record inflation, increased demand and bad policies are impacting the reliability of power distribution across the state and nation.
“In only four years, we’ve experienced more than twelve years of normal inflation,” said Martin. “Most all of the materials we purchase have gone up at least 40%, and some things, a lot more. For us, those prices aren’t going down. That’s the base moving forward.”
For example, bucket trucks have increased by 32%, poles by 47%, guy wires by 85% and traditional transformers by 88% since 2019.
“There is good news,” added Martin. “Growth allows us to spread these increased costs across more consumers and kWh sales. We’re doing our best to minimize the impact on our Members.”
Not only are the cost of materials going up, but the haste push for cleaner energy is also moving too quickly for the grid to maintain its current capacity. Martin explained that the demand for electricity is growing while “always available” generation is being retired without an equal replacement. Always available energy is from sources like coal, natural gas and nuclear that have reserves which can be dispatched at any time, unlike wind and solar.
“Demand is rising, and retirements are happening too soon,” said Martin. “We need to make sure we time these properly, so we have enough generation and planning reserves. Natural gas is going to be a key part in maintaining a reliable grid.”
Carroll EMC has maintained a diverse energy portfolio and continues to add necessary generation to meet the needs of its Members and forecasted increased demand. The state of Georgia is also in good shape as far as grid reliability. However, it is in the hands of policy makers to make good decisions that benefit electric cooperatives and its consumers.
Martin closed his presentation with an update on the joint fiber project with SyncGlobal Telecom and Crossbeam Fiber. Phase I of the project has been completed, which offers service to all EMC Members in Heard County as well as those in southern Carroll and eastern Haralson counties. Phase II is currently underway in Haralson County, western Carroll County and portions of Polk and Paulding counties. It is estimated to be completed by mid-year 2026. The design stage for Phase III is underway.
Because of this project, more than 8,000 Carroll EMC Members have access to high-speed, broadband service.
“We have more than five thousand miles of line, so it is going to take a long time to build out in fiber,” said Martin. “But we’re not going to stop until all our Members can sign up for broadband service.”