Albemarle Soundsis published monthly by

Albemarle Electric Membership Corporation

P.O. Box 69Hertford, NC 27944

(252) 426-5735

Gary Ray, General ManagerChris Powell, Editor

Website and member portal:www.aemc.coop

Outages:1-800-274-2072

24-hour payments: (252) 426-4419

Albemarle EMC is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

We are members of NC 811. Call 811 or 1-800-632-4949

three business days before you plan to dig. They will contact us to locate any underground

electric lines. It’s the law.

November 2018 Proudly serving the members of Albemarle Electric Membership Corporation

Albemarle EMC Carolina Country NOVEMBER 2018 21

A total of 191 members recently attended the Albemarle Electric Membership Corporation’s Annual Meeting, held in Hertford.

Because there were no contested elections, the three incumbent directors were elected by acclamation to serve new terms on the co-op’s board of directors. The following directors will serve three-year terms on the board: John Spence, representing Pasquotank County;

Virgie Whitehurst, all counties; and Glenn Carey, Camden. No changes were made to the board’s leadership positions.

Members received LED bulbs and $2 bills at registration. They were also served hamburgers, chips, cookies and drinks. A video of linemen performing work tasks was shown in the auditorium. Local entertainer, Dick Feyer, performed a medley of Elvis Presley’s greatest hits.

During the business meeting, Spence, president of the Albemarle EMC Board of Directors, gave a speech that focussed on the co-op’s financial strength and commitment to the community.

“It has now been six years since our last rate increase,” Spence said. “Albemarle EMC members, you are also owners of the cooperative and are entitled to any margins the cooperative produces. I’m pleased to report that your co-op refunded a total of $571,824.83 in capital credits this year.”

General Manager Gary Ray, in his presentation, spoke of the financial strength of the co-op as well

as a safety culture that has resulted in more than 1,700 days without a lost-time accident.

“We always want to restore power as quickly as possible,” Ray said. “But we also have to be safe when doing it. When we have large scale

outages, we ask for your patience and to keep the co-op employees in your thoughts and prayers.”

Two big hits, this year, were the high-voltage trailer and the House of Pressure energy efficiency demonstration device. The trailer demonstrated the dangers of working around power lines. The House of Pressure showed how air leaks can occur.

Annual Meeting Focuses on Financial Strength, Community

During the Annual Meeting, linemen used a high-voltage safety demonstration trailer to show members the dangers of power lines.

Closed for Thanksgiving

Albemarle EMC will be closed Nov. 22–23

for Thanksgiving.

From left: Directors Glenn Carey, Virgie Whitehurst and John Spence were recently elected by acclamation to the Albemarle EMC Board of Directors.

Albemarle EMC’s new online outage map was recently made public earlier than scheduled due to Hurricane Florence, which threatened our area in September.

The outage map enables members to easily keep up with the co-op’s progress when restoring power.

The link to the map is located at www.aemc.coop, at the top of the home page. It is also available on the co-op’s mobile-device page. When the map is pulled up, a gray area is shown, which is the co-op’s service area. General areas without power are color-coded, indicating the number of members without power.

The map is close to real-time, automatically refreshing itself every ten minutes. Visitors to the web page can quickly learn the total number of members affected, number of members out at the present time, number of members who called in outages and the number of members who called during the last hour.

Symbols are used to quickly convey information. A blue square means that the outage mapping system has predicted that there is an outage in a general area. The system accomplishes this by matching outage-reporting phone calls from

members to their physical addresses. The system then assumes that if more than one person has experienced an outage on a particular circuit, then the whole circuit is likely without power.

A blue circle indicates that the co-op has verified that there is an outage.

A symbol that looks like a person indicates that a line crew has been assigned to that outage.

“During large-scale outages, getting information to members is vital,” said Gary Ray, general manager of Albemarle EMC. “This outage map will hopefully give members more peace of mind during a potentially stressful situation and enable them to make informed decisions.”

Albemarle EMC Sends Help

Albemarle EMC linemen Bobby Upton, Alex Aydlett, Kevin Bailey and Ken Winslow recently assisted Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative, near Morehead City, to assist with recovery from Hurricane Florence.

“We mostly changed out broken poles; this place was pretty torn up,” Crew Leader Bobby Upton said. “I’d say we have restored power to at least 100 meters.”

Linemen Roy O’Neal, Aaron Pippen, Robbie Stallings and Austin Cooke recently provided assistance to Central Electric Membership Corporation, which also was impacted by the hurricane. O’Neal said they restored power to about 3,000 meters.

“We had to put up a 556 primary three-phase line, and then we mostly removed trees from the lines and fixed taps,” Crew Leader Roy O’Neal said.

Hurricane Florence impacted the North Carolina coast in September, making landfall before slowing to a destructive crawl inland. Statewide electric co-op outages peaked at 326,000, accounting for nearly a third of the statewide system and a record for North Carolina co-ops.

Fire Training Held

Albemarle EMC customer service representative Michele Byrum sprays a fire extinguisher during a fire fighting training session.

Members Enjoy Annual Meeting

Myrtle Copeland, 91, receives $50 for being the most senior woman at the Annual Meeting.

Sid Stickles, 92, receives $50 for being the most senior man at the Annual Meeting.

The John A. Holmes Army Junior ROTC renders colors.

Rep. Bob Steinburg (left) speaks with former Albemarle EMC director Charles Mathews.

Dick Feyer entertains the audience with Elvis Presley’s greatest hits.

Lineman Alex Aydlett (right) presents a check to a member during a prize drawing. Lucky attendees took home a combined $1,400.

Tired of Mailing Payments?

You can easily set up an automatic draft from a bank

account or credit card. For more information, please call our office

at (252) 426-5735.

Albemarle EMC’s new outage map enables members to stay abreast of co-op power restoration efforts.

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Outage Mapping System Unveiled

How Albemarle EMC works to provide its members with the highest-quality service possible.

A Time to Give ThanksAlbemarle EMC is now in the short

rows of another year of providing power to our region. The month of November has traditionally been a time when Albemarle EMC employees can pause and catch their breath. The Annual Meeting, charity golf tournament and Hurricane season are all behind us. It is a fitting time to be thankful for all that we have had the privilege of being a part of.

As always there is not enough room on this page to fit in everything we should be thankful for. But there are a few at the top of the list. Our area was mostly unaffected by Hurricane Florence. The path of the hurricane covered almost every other part of North Carolina except for ours. We are grateful for being spared, this time. But what we are most

thankful for is that Albemarle EMC has the resources and the dedicated employees needed to assist other North Carolina electric cooperatives in their time of need. We were able to dispatch two crews of linemen who offered vital assistance. Electric cooperatives have

a pact of cooperation among each other. This time we were able to send help. The next time we may need help. This mutual aid is an ever-present safety net that protects all co-op members, something we should all be thankful for.

We are also thankful for all of the businesses and individuals who supported

our Light Up Christmas golf tournament. Because of their generosity, we were able to raise more than $17,000. That money will be used to purchase toys for our annual toy drive. Albemarle EMC employees volunteered their time to purchase the toys. The toys were then sorted, bagged and delivered to our local school systems. Now in its 11th year, Light Up Christmas has raised a total of $190,000. Each year the toy drive has provided toys for about 500 children.

We are thankful for all of the Albemarle EMC members who voluntarily contribute to Operation Roundup. Each month participating members’ bills are rounded up to the nearest dollar, with the difference going to the Albemarle Community Trust. The amount typically reaches close to $60,000 per year. ACT grants are awarded by nine volunteers, who are appointed by the Albemarle EMC Board of Directors. Initiated in 1992, the Albemarle Community Trust has awarded more than $990,000. These grants help fund community support organizations such as volunteer fire departments, food pantries, school foundations, women’s shelters and so much more. During the past year, the First Baptist Missionary Church was able to purchase food and personal care items for Perquimans families. The Edenton Chowan Food Pantry was able to use an ACT grant to meet a $100,000 challenge grant, which resulted in the creation of a $200,000 endowment for the food pantry. The Camden Middle School Athletic Boosters Club used a grant to purchase two soccer goals for the school.

The impact that members continue to have on our community through Operation Roundup is truly beyond

measure. We simply cannot thank members enough for their continued support of this program.

Our safety record is an achievement we are profoundly thankful for. We are now approaching close to 1,800 days without a lost-time accident. Our last lost-time accident was in 2013. The credit must go to the employees who have helped create a culture of safety at Albemarle EMC. Tremendous consideration goes into work practices, training, tools and accountability. The hard work has obviously paid off. Albemarle EMC passed its last safety inspection with flying colors.

We are also thankful for the ability to grant close to $13,000 in Bright Ideas grants to local educators. Teachers use these grants to purchase educational tools that, otherwise, would lack funding. These grants have added considerable creativity and fun to our schools’ learning environments.

I will conclude by saying how thankful we are for you the members. Nothing we do is possible without you and your support. Members are involved at every level of operating this cooperative. Members sit on the board of directors, volunteer for our various communities and give us your patience during outages. For you, our member, we are the most thankful.

From left: Linemen Alex Aydlett, Bobby Upton, Kevin Bailey and Ken Winslow recently assisted Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative with recovery from Hurricane Florence.

Albemarle EMC is at Your Service

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From left: Linemen Austin Cooke, Aaron Pippen, Roy O’Neal and Robbie Stallings recently helped Central EMC recover from Hurricane Florence.