"Turn the lights off when you leave the room." "Don't leave the water running while brushing your teeth." "Stop air conditioning the entire neighborhood – you're in or out." Mom has a way of encouraging us to use our resources wisely. As adults, we all have little things we do personally in the name of efficiency.

At Jackson EMC, we have things we do as a company in the name of efficiency as well. Providing products, services and advice on how we can make energy efficiency a way of life is part of our job.

Energy-efficient living is not only a way to save money; it's also a way to protect the environment and reduce the need for additional generation. How we manage our energy use today impacts our neighbors and future generations. We've had a fruitful year enhancing our products, expanding our services and preparing for the future in the name of efficiency.

Outage Management System

We know the importance of keeping the power flowing; unfortunately, on occasion power outages are bound to occur. We're better prepared than ever to respond to power outages with our new Outage Management System (OMS). Our OMS provides us company-wide, real-time information so that we can troubleshoot and make repairs as safely and quickly as possible. When you call to report an outage, the information is automatically mapped in our OMS system using our Graphic Information program. We can pull up your city and even your neighborhood and see where the outages are located.

Just last month, we introduced an additional OMS service. After you've created your account profile online, you can log on anytime and report an outage, which goes directly into our OMS system. An icon on your profile page shows you whether outages have been reported in your neighborhood as well.

We hope you won't have to report an outage, but if you do, be sure to create an account profile so that you can report from any computer or PDA should you experience an outage in your home. With your account profile, you don't have to enter details such as your telephone number and address. Everything is in the system, so you can quickly and efficiently report an outage. Once we're notified, we can immediately start the repair process to get your power restored.

Energy Efficiency Where You Live

You can guarantee that your home will be cool in the summer and warm in the winter with a Right Choice™ with ENERGY STAR® home. The ENERGY STAR® qualification is third-party verification that ensures each home passes a battery of tests throughout construction. ENERGY STAR® brings national brand recognition to our Right Choice new home and existing program products.

A high-tech testing process measures your new home's energy efficiency at each phase of the building process. Guaranteed comfort and energy savings are some of the benefits our Right Choice with ENERGY STAR® new home program has to offer. You get peace of mind knowing your home is built to ensure energy efficiency.

Products bearing the blue ENERGY STAR® logo exceed government standards of energy efficiency, resulting in lower operating costs for the consumer and fewer greenhouse gases released in the environment.

For members who aren't planning to build a new home, our Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Audit is the way to go. This in-depth home performance analysis uses high-tech testing equipment to provide an accurate, scientific analysis of your home's energy performance.

Energy from the Sun

We're introducing new ways to save energy with our Right Choice™ Sun Power rebate program. Our rebate program is one of the ways we can help members who choose solar power options for their home's energy. The rebates cover two solar power options – Solar Electric Photovoltaic (PV) Panels and Solar Thermal Water Heating. The Solar Electric Panels convert the sun's energy into electricity for your home. The energy you save using solar power helps Jackson EMC reduce our peak electric requirements. Our other solar power option is Solar Thermal Water Heating. A solar water heater uses heat from the sun to make hot water. An absorber panel is normally placed on your rooftop. Tubes inside the panel heat the transfer fluid flowing through them, which warms the heat exchanger. An exchanger warms your water in a storage tank.

Our Right Choice™ Sun Power rebate options are ways you can take part in energy efficient living options. We've had a busy year this year, and we're pleased to offer you what we've been working on in the name of efficiency.

Automated Meter Reading (AMR)

We've been studying the benefits of AMR for the last couple of years. Now, we're preparing for the first step toward AMR installation. AMR technology can remotely read meters using wireless transmitters or power line data transfer and feed the data directly into our billing system. This technology is increasingly becoming an industry standard. In addition to improving service and meter reading efficiency, other benefits include better reporting during outages caused by storms.

We're moving forward with AMR and plans to begin installation are scheduled to begin toward the end of the year. We'll send you more information and plan details as we get closer to implementing this project.

Preparing for Tomorrow

Our cooperative has grown from 132,904 meters to 205,000 meters in the last 10 years, a 54% increase. Our growth makes it necessary to plan ahead to meet our electric demands today and tomorrow. Part of our energy sources come from renewable energy. As one of the founding members of Green Power EMC, Jackson EMC has been using renewable energy from landfill gas and low impact hydropower since 2003. This allowed the funding of Sun Power for Schools, which brings solar energy to classrooms across Georgia. Students in the Sun Power for Schools program also study a solar energy curriculum as well.

Our generation portfolio features a variety of sources, and while renewables are an important portion of the mix, they don't provide enough power to meet our future needs. Our generation sources include coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydropower and biomass. We'll need 1,000 megawatts of power within the next 10 years to keep up with the growing electric demand.

To meet those needs, Jackson EMC is participating in a variety of generation projects that are economically and logistically responsible and include both traditional and renewable sources, including coal, nuclear, natural gas, biomass and solar. Having the ability to meet our electric needs from a variety of sources helps us keep power affordable and reliable.

What Drives Us

We're not driven by profits or stock prices. We're driven by a promise we made nearly 70 years ago – to provide reliable power at a reasonable rate to our member-owners. Our residential and commercial members place a trust in us that each day their power will be available at the flip of a switch. As more people and businesses come to our service territory, we have to provide reliable power to hold up our end of the bargain.

We promote energy efficiency, but most importantly, we promote efficiency in service as well. If we can enhance a service, improve a product or explore additional resources and technology to make our processes efficient, we're going to make it happen. We've learned that if you can save member-owners time, help reduce electric bills or provide a service to save money, it's worth it in the name of efficiency.
 

Balance Sheets - May 31, 2008