Like any electric provider, our cooperative aims to make your electric service as reliable as possible. Planned power outages — though rare — help us achieve that goal.

First, technological advances allow us to strengthen the grid. Stronger poles and wires, the development of devices that better protect equipment from winds and wildlife, and the creation of smart grid technologies all reduce the chances outages occur, especially during storms.

To make these upgrades, though, we sometimes have to shut off power. Planned outages allow us to notify our members about when these will occur and how long the outages will last, allowing them to mitigate any inconveniences the outages might cause.

Ronald Wade, manager of operations and engineering for South Alabama Electric Cooperative, says planned outages are infrequent but happen primarily when his crews perform voltage conversions. “We will sometimes convert a line that is 12,500 volts to 25,000 volts,” Wade says. “In order to do that, we’ve got to have a power outage to change out the transformers and so forth.”

In those cases, members will be notified by mail of the exact dates and times of the planned outage. Wade says those jobs, which normally occur a few times every two or three years, are usually done in the early morning hours and during milder weather to cause as little disruption as possible for residents and businesses. “Normally, it’s no longer than a two-hour outage,” he says.

Second, regular maintenance — like replacing a damaged or deteriorating utility pole or tree trimming near power lines — may also require planned outages. These outages allow our employees to work in a safer environment.

A third reason planned outages may occur is the need to relocate lines and other equipment ahead of public infrastructure improvements like road expansion projects. Planned outages can also occur when we need to add new members to the grid.

Wade says SAEC doesn’t routinely make telephone calls or send emails to members to alert them to pending planned outages beyond the larger voltage conversions. He does, however, urge members to make sure their contact information is up to date in case they need to be contacted.

“Sometimes, we don’t have current information,” he says. “So, we put information in bills and in our monthly magazine all along about keeping us up to date. It’s very important that our members make sure that we have their correct phone number.”

As your cooperative, we will aim to schedule these outages at the most convenient times. We also endeavor to provide our members with plenty of notice of any scheduled outages. Keeping your contact information updated will help us with those efforts.

Weathering Planned Power Outages

While losing power may not be ideal, members can take several steps to lessen the inconvenience caused by the necessary upgrades to our power grids.

• Charge cellphones ahead of any outage. Keep them and a list of emergency contact numbers in case help is needed.
• Keep flashlights and a supply of batteries for them handy.
• Turn off major appliances like washers and dryers so they do not run unexpectedly when power returns. This includes ovens, stoves and any other heat-generating devices that could cause fire if left unattended while operational.
• Keep refrigerators and freezers closed to preserve the cold temperatures longer.
• Make sure garages can be manually opened.
• Notify alarm system companies of the impending outage.
• Ensure generators are properly installed since improperly installed generators can damage property or harm others.
• Have a reserve of water for cooking, flushing and other needs if your water system relies on electrical service to operate.

Sources: Puget Sound Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric, PPL Electric Utilities and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

If you own a manufactured home, it probably came with an electric furnace. An electric furnace may bring the price of your home down in the short term, but did you know it can lead to increased heating costs over time?

That’s why South Alabama Electric Cooperative and its wholesale power provider, PowerSouth, have partnered to help members upgrade to a more energy-efficient heat pump:

If you are an SAEC member who is in the market for a new manufactured home, the cooperative will cover the difference in cost between an electric furnace and a heat pump up to $700*, paid to the home dealer.

Members who already own a manufactured home can get a rebate of $400 per ton to convert their existing electric furnace to a more efficient heat pump.

By upgrading, SAEC members can save an average of $550 per year on heating costs. With those savings, you could start a new home project or treat the kids!

Cost Comparisons

Electric Furnace Annual Cost

Heating Cost $750
Cooling Cost $480

Heat Pump Annual Cost

Heating Cost $200
Cooling Cost $480

Average Savings $550 Off Per Year

Who: SAEC Members
What: SAEC 2020 Annual Meeting
When: Tuesday, October 27, 10 a.m.
Where: Pike County Cattlemen's Complex in Troy

With the health and welfare of our members and employees in mind, SAEC will change the format of its 2020 annual meeting:

Instead of the traditional in-person meeting, a drive-thru meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 27, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. SAEC asks members not to arrive before 10 a.m.

Members can register for the meeting and vote without leaving their vehicle. Drive-thru lanes will be set up at the Pike County Cattlemen’s complex in Troy.

Each member who registers and votes will receive a $50 credit to their electric bill and be registered for door prizes drawn at a later date. Members will also receive a hamburger and a goody bag from the cooperative.
Members must show their official annual meeting notice, which they will receive by mail, to register.

Drive-Thru Registration: It’s a simple process

Step 1: Enter Pike County Cattlemen’s Complex off Highway 231.
Step 2: Follow directions to the registration area.
Step 3: Three lines will be available for members to vote and register.
Step 4: Present your registration card to an SAEC employee to vote, register and receive your $50 bill credit.
Step 5: Follow directions to exit behind Pike County Cattlemen’s Complex on Pike County Road 5520

Why We're Changing this Year's Annual Meeting

For more than 35 years, South Alabama Electric Cooperative has conducted the annual meeting without interruption. While the location may have changed, the agenda has always been the same. We come together as a cooperative and enjoy food, fellowship and good entertainment, followed by a business meeting, elections and an address from the general manager.

This year, the coronavirus pandemic has posed a challenge to that tradition. The safety of our members and employees is always the highest priority at SAEC, and it quickly became apparent to the board of trustees there was no safe way to hold this year’s annual meeting in the usual format.

Typically, between 1,200 and 1,500 members attend the meeting. Even hosting it at a facility the size of the Pike County Cattlemen’s complex, there is no way to welcome that many people while observing the necessary social distancing protocols to keep our members safe.

However, the annual meeting is too important for it to simply be canceled. It isn’t just a great opportunity for us to come together as a community, but it is also part of the cooperative’s core mission.

Democratic member control is one of our guiding principles, and there is no better demonstration of that concept than the annual meeting. While there, members can voice their ideas and concerns directly to cooperative leaders and cast their votes for who they think should represent them on the board of trustees.

In order to preserve that member participation while still protecting our community, SAEC’s leadership and board decided to hold this year’s annual meeting in a new drive-thru format. As you have seen on the previous pages, it will work a little differently from our usual event, but it will be just as easy for members to make their voices heard.

In fact, live entertainment is the only part of the traditional annual meeting that members will miss this year. Each member will still be included in a drawing for door prizes, receive a goody bag and get a sack lunch. In addition, every member who registers and votes will win by receiving a $50 credit to their electric bill the following month.

We know these changes may inconvenience some members, but rest assured we are taking every step to make sure the process runs smoothly. The Pike County Sheriff ’s Department will be present to help direct traffic, and cooperative employees will be positioned all along the traffic route to answer any questions you may have.

By holding a drive-thru annual meeting, SAEC will ensure that our members’ democratic control of their cooperative is not jeopardized while also protecting their health and safety. We look forward to seeing all of you next month.

Tanesha Whatley joined South Alabama Electric Cooperative in December 2019. She is a 2005 graduate of Thompson High School in Alabaster, Alabama, and earned both her Bachelor of Science in human services and Master of Science in counseling and psychology from Troy University. As a cashier and receptionist at SAEC, she looks forward to acting as the face of the cooperative and solving problems for members.

What were you doing before you joined SAEC?

I worked for Branch Banking and Trust Company in Troy for seven years. I started as a teller and rose to Branch Banker Team Leader, where I supervised five associates. In between the time I started at SAEC, my husband and I started an ice cream truck business for my stepson, Tyler Whatley, and my son, Ethan Whatley. It’s called 2 Brothers Frozen Treats, and it’s still up and running today. We are teaching Ethan and Tyler entrepreneurship at a very young age.

What made you want to join the SAEC team?

The day I came in to meet with the office staff, the atmosphere was so warm and family-oriented. I just knew it was for me, and I have always wanted to work for a local hometown business.

What is your favorite part of the job?

My co-workers and getting to know all the members. Some of the members are past clients who I haven’t seen since I left banking. It feels great to still have a connection to them. Prior to SAEC, I didn’t know much about the electric industry, and it’s exciting to learn something different every day. I love the challenge and expanding my mindset.

What do you think is the most important impact SAEC has on its community?

I love how SAEC gives back to the community by providing scholarships for high school seniors and returning capital credits each year to its members.

What is your favorite thing to do when you aren’t working?

Spending time with my family, cooking for them. And in the summer, I love serving ice cream on the ice cream truck! When I do have free time, I love to take time out and pamper myself.

Who is the most inspiring person in your life?

I have 3. My son, stepson and husband. My son and stepson inspire me to take life one day at a time but have fun doing it. My husband is serious but funny. He inspires me to always do my best and work hard at all things. He has given me the go-getter entrepreneur mindset because he’s an entrepreneur as well.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

Put God first in all things and everything else will come forth.

Serving our members is about more than just providing reliable and affordable power. It’s about making your cooperative available when you need it.

One way we’re doing that is with the SAEC Connect app. With it, you can access your South Alabama Electric Cooperative account from anywhere, using your smartphone or mobile device.

Don’t have time to sit down in front of a computer to manage your account? With the app, almost everything you could do on the cooperative’s website is available on the go.

Interacting with SAEC has never been easier.

Log in to your account on the SAEC Connect app to:

• Pay your bill
• Monitor your prepay account
• Track your daily energy usage
• Report an outage
• View a map of any ongoing outages.
• See when repair crews have been dispatched
• Get notifications from SAEC
• Find contact information and directions to the SAEC office
• Access the SAEC Facebook page

As a cooperative, it is our responsibility to put ourselves in the hands of our members as much as possible. With the SAEC Connect app, members have SAEC at their fingertips and can feel confident knowing they are in control of their electric account anytime, anywhere.

The South Alabama Electric Cooperative app is available for Apple devices in the App Store and for Android devices in the Google Play Store.

Board member Bill Hixon dedicated his life to family and farming

Some people want to travel the world. Others want to explore every state in the country. But for Bill Hixon, everything he wanted to see was right on his own farm. When he did venture away from it, he would count the hours until he could make it back.

“I remember David Bailey telling me about a trip they went on together for the cooperative,” says Hixon’s son, Billy. “At 5:30 in the morning on their last day, he heard someone banging on his door. It was Daddy telling him to get up so they could go. That was him. He’d been gone a few days, and it was time to get home.”

The Hixon family farm traces its history back more than 120 years to when Johnny Hixon bought around 150 acres of land. Since then, each generation has added to it. Bill Hixon’s dad, Delmer, purchased another 350 acres of land during his lifetime. Bill and his wife, Betty, grew it to approximately 1,200 acres, and Billy Hixon added poultry farming to the mix.

Billy Hixon spent more than 30 years working the farm alongside his father, but he inherited his love of the land much earlier. He remembers riding tractors around the farm with his dad as a 5-year-old and never wanting to do anything else. Now that his father has passed away, that work has taken on new meaning for Billy Hixon. “I’ve got a big job keeping this farm the way he wanted it, and I’m going to work hard to keep it up,” he says. “It’s a great legacy.”

The Sporting Life

Billy Hixon reckons that, like many farmers, his father was just born to work the land. But there was a moment in Bill Hixon’s life when it seemed he might fol-low a different path. When he graduated from Pike County High School in 1951, he accepted a football scholarship at Troy State College, now Troy University, making him the first football player in his high school’s history to be awarded an athletic scholarship.

He went on to study physical education with the intention of one day becoming a coach. Ultimately, the draw of the farm was too much to resist, and Hixon never looked back. But his love of sports continued to be infectious and something he shared with his family for decades to come. “We’re big Auburn fans, and I go to all the football games,” says his oldest daughter, Kim Wise. “We always had a good time rehashing the games together, and we spent countless hours watching Billy’s sons play baseball in college.”

Today, Billy Hixon’s sons are picking up their grandfather’s coaching aspirations. Rush Hixon recently became the new varsity boys baseball coach at Pike Liberal Arts School, with his brother Ross working part time as his assistant coach.

“Daddy loved coaching, and now his grandsons are carrying that on for him,” says Billy Hixon. “I know he would be so proud to see my boys coaching together.”

Speaking Up

Despite his reluctance to leave the farm, Bill Hixon found community service routinely drawing him away from it. He served as president of the Pike County Cattleman’s Association, was lifetime director of the Alabama Cattleman’s Association and was a member of the Alabama Farmers Federation. He became a member of the Alabama Cattleman’s Association Hall of Fame in 2014.

To his family, it was never a surprise that Hixon felt a call to leadership. While he might have preferred to stay home, he also felt responsible for making his voice and those like his heard. “Whatever he was doing he felt like it was important to be represented and to be a voice for what you believe in,” Billy Hixon says. “If you don’t speak for yourself, no one else will. He knew that someone has to be willing to go to the meetings and leave the farm for just a little while to do certain things. He felt a calling to do that.”

As it turned out, he was suited to the role. His family describes Bill Hixon as a natural peacemaker, able to see multiple sides of any argument and bring people together. That skill set, along with a level head and a genuine spirit, made him approachable to everyone in the community. “He could sit down with sena-tors to talk about the latest bill and with farmhands to talk about their problems, all in the same day,” Billy Hixon says. “He was the same man no matter who was around. People knew that and respected him.”

In addition, Bill Hixon served on the South Alabama Electric Cooperative board of trustees for nearly 13 years. He was proud of the time he spent serving his cooperative and community. “He made a lot of lifelong friends through the fellowship with that board,” Wise recalls. “Those people meant a lot to him, and it meant just as much to get things done for the people in his district.”

A Simple Man

It wasn’t just Bill Hixon’s passion for farming that constantly drew him back home, but also his deep love for his family. His younger daughter, Beth Collier, remembers how he never wanted gifts on special occasions, just the company of his loved ones.

“My brother and sister’s families live here, so we would always eat as a family at least once a week,” Wise says. “We just always made the time and the effort to get together. Even our extended family in Albany, Georgia, would always make the trip at Christmas just to come for a day to be together.”

Between the strong connection with his family and with the land his ancestors had worked, Billy Hixon says his father was the most satisfied person he knows. He was happy to save and sacrifice for his kids, never getting caught up in the chase for a bigger house or a fancy car. “He loved doing what he was doing and didn’t want anything else,” he says. “The best way to describe him is he was a simple man.”

In many ways, the Hixon family and the farm they have lived on for over a century are inextricable. Bill Hixon took great pride in the fact that five generations of his family had worked the land. Today, with Ross and Amy Hixon living on the land with their new baby, a sixth generation calls it home. And it’s everything the child’s great-grandfather could have wanted.

“Daddy told me not long ago, ‘I’ve had a good life,’” Billy Hixon says. “‘I had the best wife you can have, the best kids you can have, the best in-laws and grandkids. What else is there?’”

At South Alabama Electric Cooperative, our linemen respond to outages caused by everything from wildlife on the wires to car accidents damaging power poles. But one of the most common causes of outages on the system is simply falling debris disrupting power lines.

When storms and high-speed winds hit our system, they can bring loose tree limbs and other debris down on electric lines and interrupt your service. These outages are frustrating for members and time-consuming to repair, which is why SAEC trims any trees or vegetation growing too close to our lines.

Maintaining that space around lines, or right of way, is essential to helping SAEC provide affordable and reliable electric service. However, because the cooperative maintains hundreds of miles of lines, we also depend on our members to help out by staying aware of rights of way on their own property.

If you plant new trees or other tall plants near power lines or electrical equipment, please account for right-of-way space before deciding on placement. Keeping distribution lines safe and clear of obstructions is just one way we can all save money while making sure the lights stay on.

Clear the Way

SAEC clears growth 15 feet from each side of an active power line.

This means: Clearing 30 feet of space around active singe and 3-phase poles.

Do your part: Maintain a “safe zone” when planting trees.

At South Alabama Electric Cooperative, we know no 2 members are the same. Each of you has your own way of planning ahead, your own strategy for setting a budget and your own approach to managing your expenses.

That’s why SAEC offers a variety of billing options to fit everyone’s lifestyle. For members who prefer the regularity of a monthly payment, traditional billing methods provide familiarity. But for members who are looking for flexibility and control, prepay billing is the answer.

You can think of prepay like filling your car with gas. Rather than worry about deposits, late fees and disconnect fees that can come with traditional billing, prepay lets you “fill up the tank” ahead of time and track usage so you know when you’re running low. For most members, prepay billing also adds up to savings. By setting up text and email alerts to notify them about their daily balance, members can gain a better understanding of how their day-to-day habits impact their usage.

If you forget to add money to your account, SAEC will even send you a notification to let you know when your remaining balance drops below $20. So you never have to worry about unexpectedly hitting zero.

The prepay system is also automated, saving members the time and associated fees of calling the office to ask someone to disconnect or reconnect service.

If your balance drops to zero, the system will wait 24 hours before disconnecting service. Reconnecting service is as easy as paying the necessary funds into your account.

Visit our Prepay Billing page.

Try prepay billing today to:

• Save money by learning about your usage habits.
• Receive daily balance notifications.
• Stop end-of-month billing surprises.
• Avoid deposits, late fees and disconnect fees.
• Make payments when you want, in the amount you want.

Join the hundreds of members who have already signed up or learn more by calling (800) 556-2060 today!

Carrie Little Carroll

Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner

Carroll recently joined Dr. Charles Linguiti’s clinic in Brundidge, Alabama.

Carroll has 6 years of experience in emergency medicine, oncology and intensive care. She is a recent graduate of the Auburn University Master of Science in Nursing Program.

Carroll lives in Brundidge with her husband, Justin, and their daughter, Madison. She is currently accepting new patients.

Willie "Trey" James Wright III

Brundidge Assistant City Manager

Wright is a graduate of Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s degree in educational leadership at Troy University.

Wright has been in the Brundidge community for more than 10 years. He has served as assistant principal and as principal of Pike County High School, a position he has held for nine years. His delight in life is spending time with his daughter, Skylar.