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G. Thomas Upshaw | President & CEO
Happy holidays from Palmetto Electric Cooperative!
Thank you for allowing us to serve you in 2007. Without your cooperation, and that of 65,000 other cooperative
consumers, the holiday season would certainly be a lot less merry and bright. At Palmetto Electric Cooperative,
we're always pleased to help put a twinkle back in the eyes of children (and adults) as each year ends.
Looking ahead to the New Year, we are also excited about ways we can cooperate with you, our members. Working
together, we can bring new energy to the environmental challenges that our planet faces.
As you may have read, Palmetto Electric and the 19 other independent, consumer-owned electric co-ops around
South Carolina recently announced plans to distribute 7 million energy-efficient compact fluorescent light
bulbs (CFLs) to co-op members over the next 10 years. The leaders of the 20 co-ops also decided to invest up to
$10 million per year in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
Along with our chief power supplier, the state-owned utility Santee Cooper, we are funding research to reduce the
emissions created from burning coal, a key fuel for electricity generation. Co-ops statewide and Santee Cooper
continue to offer consumers a chance to purchase renewable GreenPower.
These efforts dovetail nicely with your co-op's long-time mission: to help members use electricity wisely. That's
why we offer an array of programs, services and information promoting energy efficiency. In 2008 we hope you will
resolve, as we have, to renew and reinvigorate the commitment to use energy wisely.
Your co-op uses technology to improve your service and keep costs down. You can, too. You can start now, as Christmas
lighting nudges your monthly power bill upward. Have you noticed, for instance, that Christmas lights are now available
with those energy-saving light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs? LEDs are even more energy efficient than CFLs.
Like CFLs, they cost a little more up front, but LEDs are rugged, solid-state lights – less likely to break and shatter
into a million pieces under the tree and underfoot. Some have an expected lifetime use of 200,000 hours.
By using energy wisely, we can keep the season bright. Come to think of it, those lights are a little like our cooperative:
Like those festive strands, we're all linked together. And, like a co-op, those lights sure are beautiful when they all
shine as one.
Merry Christmas from Palmetto Electric Cooperative!
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