General Manager’s Message – September 2025
How Is Your Attitude?
I would like to write this month about attitude, specifically, my attitude. This summer, I was traveling across our wonderful country when a criminal broke into my vehicle and stole my checkbooks, camera, and approximately a dozen SD cards from my camera bag.
I immediately took steps to protect my bank accounts, but those SD cards were priceless because they contained pictures from past vacations and family events over several years. The criminal obviously did not care about our personal treasure on those cards, and we cannot get those moments back.
As you can probably guess, my attitude shifted from joy to grumbling about how unlucky I am and why this would happen to me. After getting the window repaired and cleaning the glass from inside the vehicle, we continued our trip. Soon, my attitude turned around, realizing that the incident could have been much worse and only set us back by about 4 hours.
Life is always going to happen. Philippians 4:4 states, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say again: Rejoice!” When we can rise above life’s circumstances, we see things from a different perspective, and it shows in our attitude.
How is your attitude toward your electric cooperative these days? Over the past year, South Alabama Electric Cooperative (SAEC) has been forced to make some changes to how we do business. There have been hiccups, from issues with members receiving their monthly bills on time to the cooperative receiving payments effectively. I have tried to apply Philippians 2:14 to these situations. “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” I failed this verse under the theft situation, but I tried!
So, how are we trying to fix this issue? The speed of light is faster than tires on the road, so we are strongly encouraging all of our members to receive their bills via email. We call this an e-bill or going paperless.
This is how it works: When the cooperative creates a billing file to be printed and snail-mailed to you, the members who have signed up for e-billing will get an email letting them know that their bill is ready. From there, members can log in to their SAEC account and view their bill. The digital version is “identical” to the bill you would receive in the mail, but about 2 weeks faster.
Why would your cooperative want you to go paperless? For one, it saves money on mailing costs. But, as electric bills continue to rise, it also guarantees you will receive your bill on time, giving you more time to prepare payment.
There are also other benefits to setting up an online account. Each year, between the end of January and April 15, we get an uptick in calls from members wanting to know how much they paid in the past year. It is the time of year that we all love. No, not football season or deer season. It’s tax time!
With an online account, this information is only a click away and available to all members, no matter how your bill is delivered to you. Even without signing up for e-billing, we can set up a text notification letting you know that your e-bill is ready to be viewed online about 12 days before it is due. This function provides you access to your electric bill, just in case the mail service loses or is late with your bill.
If you choose regular mail and don’t receive your bill, please log in to see the bill online. It is just a few clicks away. And always remember Philippians 2:14: Don’t grumble about change, but rejoice because change can be good.
If you have any questions, our member service representatives will be happy to walk you through the process. Thank you for your positive attitude toward your cooperative, and I promise to continue working on my own.