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

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

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

electric lines. It’s the law.

April 2017 Proudly serving the members of Albemarle Electric Membership Corporation

Albemarle EMC Carolina Country APRIL 2017 21

Join us, and electric cooperative members nationwide, in celebrating the hardworking men and women who keep the lights on. April 10, 2017 is

National Lineman Appreciation Day. “Linemen are first responders,” said

Gary Ray, general manager of Albemarle EMC. They’re out in all kinds of inclement weather and at all hours. We depend on them 24 hours a day.”

As a local business, your co-op’s employees, including our linemen, live

in the communities we serve. You’ll see them not only restoring power, but also at the store, at church or picking up their kids from school. You can feel confident that they – like you – want power to be restored to our community as quickly and safely as possible.

April 10 is Linemen Appreciation Day

Capital credits are the year-end margins earned by your cooperative. They are allocated to each member based on their electric usage for that year. These monies are a source of equity and may be returned to you when the co-op is in a sound financial position. We’ve been fortunate enough to make annual refunds to our members for as far back as co-op records go. The oldest nonretired margins on our books are for the year 1990. During the past 10 years, your co-op has refunded a total of $3,543,198.92.

Your board of directors are pleased to approve another general retirement of capital credits. In an effort to reach

the members that have been with us the longest as well as those that are among the newest, the refund years will consist of the following:

If you were a member of Albemarle EMC during these years, you will probably receive a capital credits refund

in April. The credit will be a line item on your bill stating “Capital Credit Refund.” If a member has several

accounts, the capital credit system adds them together. The credit will only be posted on one account. Anyone that received power during these years but is no longer an active member will receive a check. This is why it’s important for you to give us a forwarding address when you leave us.

Capital Credits to be Refunded

Closed for Easter

Albemarle EMC will be closed Friday, April 14

for Easter.

1990 capital credits, 100%1991 capital credits, 20%1994 capital credits, 20%2015 capital credits, 5%total approx. refund

$289,811.19$72,886.30$116,323.91$94,176.96$573,198.36

Albemarle EMC Carolina Country APRIL 2017 22

Please Update Your Phone Numbers

It is important that Albemarle EMC have good phone numbers for members. When your phone number changes, please notify Albemarle EMC by calling 426-5735. Accurate phone numbers are crucial to the effectiveness of our outage reporting system. We also use them to contact members if we notice unusually high usage at a residence.

“ I Will” Safety Video Produced

Albemarle EMC spares no expense when it comes to employee safety. Considerable resources are dedicated to maintaining safety equipment, developing procedures and providing training at the highest level. All of these efforts combine to produce what we call our “culture of safety.”

But no matter how much time and energy is dedicated to our culture of safety, none of it matters without employee buy-in. To that end, the North Carolina Electric Cooperatives have developed the eight promises of “I Will.” They are:

I will be accountable for myself and others.

I will consider family before I engage in risk.I will assure that equipment is safe and ready for use.I will take the time to do everything safe.I will engage myself in job discussions.I will protect myself and others on the highway.I will have absolute focus on the task at hand.I will enlighten and educate myself and others.Co-op employees across North Carolina are being asked to

take the “I Will” pledge as a commitment to their personal safety and that of their fellow employees. Albemarle EMC decided to go one step further and produce a video of employees taking the pledge. Some employees were filmed while performing a safety activity such as buckling a seat belt. Others were filmed simply stating “I will.” The end result is a video that is a powerful statement of employees’ commitment to a safe work environment, said Jody Parker, coordinator of corporate safety for Albemarle EMC.

“It speaks volumes that so many employees volunteered to go on camera to make a public declaration of their commitment to safety,” Parker said.

Jody Parker, coordinator of corporate safety, puts a microphone on lineman Robbie Stallings, prior to going on camera.

Sports Camp Participants Recognized

North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives recognized the accomplishment of 26 exceptional female student athletes on Sunday. During the Wolfpack Women’s basketball game against Virginia Tech, last year’s female

Touchstone Energy Sports Camp Scholarship winners reunited for an afternoon of fun and excitement on N.C. State’s campus.

The ladies and their families were honored during a special pregame luncheon and certificate presentation ahead of the big game, and they were

recognized during a special on-court presentation. During the presentation, the electric co-ops presented

Michael Lipitz, senior associate athletic director for N.C. State, with a check for $15,986 in support of this summer’s girls’ basketball scholarship camps.

“It is always a pleasure to recognize these student-athletes for the hard work they do in school as well as on the basketball court,” said Gary Ray, general manager for Albemarle EMC.

Everyone knows April showers bring May flowers, but did you also know April brings new opportunities for local educators to fund classroom projects? Here at Albemarle Electric Membership Corporation, April marks the official kickoff of the Bright Ideas education grant program. The

Bright Ideas grant program is offered by all 26 of North Carolina’s electric cooperatives and supports educators in need of funding to implement creative, hands-on learning projects.

Since 1994 North Carolina’s electric co-ops have awarded more than $10.9 million in Bright Ideas grants to teachers statewide. More than 10,400 classroom projects benefiting well over 2.1 million North Carolina students have been made possible because of these grants.

Albemarle EMC is now accepting applications for Bright Ideas education grants for the 2017-18 school year. Educators in K-12 classrooms with creative ideas for hands-on learning projects are encouraged to apply for a grant. Last year, Albemarle EMC awarded more than $12,000 to projects that supported local teachers and students.

Applications will be accepted April 1 through Sept. 18. However, it could pay to apply early: All applications submitted by the early bird deadline of Aug. 15 will be entered into a drawing for one of five $100 Visa gift cards.

Teachers at qualifying schools can apply individually or as a team, and grants are available for all subjects. To apply, or for more information about the Bright Ideas grant program, visit www.NCBrightIdeas.com.

Apply for Bright Ideas Grants

Camden Middle School student Elaina Greene (right) was recently recognized at an N.C. State women’s basketball game. Presenting the certificate is Nelle Hotchkiss, senior vice president for the N.C. Association of Electric Cooperatives.

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

Albemarle EMC is at Your Service

Albemarle EMC Carolina Country APRIL 2017 23

Operation Roundup Continues to Benefit Community

One of Albemarle EMC’s core values is commitment to the community. This commitment is exemplified through our Operation RoundUp program. Operation RoundUp enables the entire membership to play a part in giving back to the community. Established in 2002, the program will have given back a total of more than $900,000 by the end of 2017.

Operation RoundUp is funded by

members who voluntarily contribute through their power bills. It’s called RoundUp because, each month, participating members’ bills are rounded up to the nearest dollar, with the difference going to the Albemarle Community Trust. The amounts contributed end up being about $6 per member, per year. However, those contributions quickly add up to about $60,000 per year, when multiplied by the 10,000 members who participate each year. Members can opt out at any time.

RoundUp funds are overseen by the Albemarle Community Trust (ACT) Board, which is comprised of nine individuals appointed by the Albemarle EMC Board of Directors. To serve on the board, a person does not have to be a

member, but must live in the Albemarle region. The ACT board meets six times a year to review applications. Applications can be downloaded from the co-op’s website, located at www.aemc.coop. Typically, grants are approved up to $5,000. If an applicant is funded up to $5,000, they must wait a calendar year to apply for additional funding. If an applicant is funded less than $5,000, they may still apply for additional funds within the same calendar year, until the $5,000 cap is reached.

The type of grant requests funded span a wide spectrum. However, the vast majority of grants are to nonprofit organizations such as volunteer fire departments. The ACT board engages in serious deliberation to make sure that the funds awarded are spread throughout the co-op’s service area and have the most benefit possible.

Most grants are awarded to organizations that benefit the largest number of people in the community. A grant was recently awarded to the Albemarle Pregnancy Resource Center and Clinic. For women who are facing unexpected pregnancies, the clinic offers pregnancy testing, ultrasound scans, a parenting program as well as education and support. The clinic also offers a mentoring program for men.

ACT grants are often awarded to schools to support a variety of programs. Most recently a grant was awarded to Camden Youth Services. The funds will be used to benefit students that are considered to be at-risk. Risk is determined by the financial status of the family, school behavior, home environment and social behavior. The

majority of the funds will be used to purchase school materials.

The Winfall Volunteer Fire Department recently received a grant to assist with the purchase of a mobile air trailer. The trailer will be used to fill the self-contained-breathing-apparatus tanks that firefighters use to enter buildings that are consumed with smoke.

“This will help us fill tanks faster,” said Craig Trueblood, assistant fire chief for the Winfall Volunteer Fire Department. “The trailer will also enable us to train more with our air tanks.”

The impact that Operation RoundUp has had on the Albemarle community is beyond measure. When firemen use Jaws of Life to extract motorists from wrecked vehicles; when a youngster survives drowning because of swimming lessons; when the less-fortunate receive groceries from a food pantry; when a victim of domestic abuse has a place of refuge, it is often Operation RoundUp that helps make it possible. To all of the Albemarle EMC members who contribute to this program, we thank you and the community thanks you.