Southern Rivers Energy held its Annual Members’ Meeting, on Saturday, Aug. 24 with 281 registered members present and represented by proxy. In addition to the business meeting, attendees enjoyed various breakfast options from the Food Truck Court, an extensive health fair provided by Upson Regional Medical Center, and information booths on energy efficiency, Operation Round Up®, and Conexon Connect.

President/CEO Michael McMillan reported that the cooperative is financially sound with assets totaling more than $175 million as of December 2023. McMillan also reported that to date, SRE has refunded a total of $22.3 million in capital credits to SRE members.

The cooperative is currently working on multiple projects to enhance the reliability and resilience of the system. One of these projects is the Battery Storage Microgrid project with Georgia Transmission Corporation, which focuses on improving resiliency and reliability in parts of southern Lamar and Monroe Counties, and northeast Upson County. These areas are primarily vulnerable due to miles of line running cross-country through challenging terrain. Additionally, SRE is rolling out a smart grid initiative that utilizes its fiber network to remotely switch and reroute power around damaged sections of the grid during power outages.

Since completing their fiber network in partnership with Conexon, more than 9000 members have subscribed to fiber internet service from Conexon Connect.

The members voted to re-elect the following board members to a three-year term: Dru Goodwin of Woodbury, John Pope of Forsyth, and Nedam Walker of Lizella.

Registered members received some fantastic door prizes while Buel Allen of Thomaston was the lucky $500 cash grand prizewinner.  Brooke Parrott of Yatesville took home a 43-inch Smart TV in a special drawing for Operation Round Up participants, and ten members won a $50 credit toward their next power bill.