General Manager’s Message – March 2026
Friendly Advice
This time of the year is like starting with a clean sheet of paper. Nature blossoms with new growth. Fruit trees begin to bloom with an array of colors. We start planting gardens and flowers in our yards.
People start exercising more because the weather is warmer, but not yet hot. I try to exercise throughout the year. I know the older I get, the stiffer I become. So, I know that motion is lotion to my joints.
Some days I go for a walk at the Troy Recreation Center. The outdoor track is wonderful. It’s great to see all ages out exercising, but I’ve noticed a trend among the younger people exercising. They do not speak to you — even after you speak. It’s not just the younger individuals, but the number of nonspeakers is growing.
This is Alabama. We are so Southern-friendly that we wave to individuals while traveling on our interstates. Why are we losing our Southern nature of being friendly, respectful, and our wonderful hospitality? In my opinion, it is this thing about 3 inches wide and 6 inches long called a cellphone. People are so addicted to their devices that they are willing to endanger their lives, as well as others’, to read a text that’s showing a thumbs-up emoji. It is sad to see individuals operating a vehicle while texting someone. The information is not that important, and if you deem it to be important, then stop your vehicle. Our crews have spoken many times of the near misses they experience while working on the roadways.
With all that being said, these devices can be a great asset when used to communicate with our members. It allows your cooperative to notify you when your power’s out. Before you say it — sure, I understand you know your power is out when you’re at home, but our text notification also lets you know when you’re not at home. We also let you know when it’s restored. Communicating with you assures you that we are working on your outage.
With our South Alabama Electric Cooperative (SAEC) app, you can perform a long list of functions. Once you set up your account information, you can view your current statement, which looks identical to the statement you receive in the mail. You can make a payment or click on the account billing history, which stores 12 months of history. You can view the number of billing days and total kilowatt-hour usage for a particular month. Heck, you can even view the actual bill sent to you back in that month.
My favorite SAEC app tool is the usage tracker. There is a default date range of the last 7 or 30 days, or you can select a custom date range. This energy information shows our members the impact of their electric use during cold and hot weather. When we have cold weather, as we had in late January and early February, this usage tool gives you a heads-up on what to expect on your next electric bill. My least favorite tool of the SAEC app is the outage function. This function allows you to report an outage, view your account outage history, and view our current system outage status. I don’t like to see outages, but they do happen.
The SAEC app is a powerful tool for our members, but never access any apps when driving. If you need any assistance with our app, please contact 1 of our member service representatives, and they will help you on your app journey.
We are pleased that a large percentage of you appreciate the daily usage text notification on your electric account. But information is only as good as a current cellphone number. If you change your cellphone number, please let the cooperative know the new number.
Use your phone and our wonderful app, but don’t use them when driving or walking. One may cause you to lose your life or take an innocent person’s life. The other will cause you not to show off our great Southern hospitality and miss God’s wonderful creations around us.
Finally, enjoy the new seasonal time because each year they get less and less. God has blessed us with life to serve Him and enjoy his creation. I hope you have a great month.