Warming Up the Wiregrass
The Wiregrass Electric Cooperative team’s diligent work to maintain substations, manage our infrastructure, and clear rights of way is a vivid reminder of the vital role we play in keeping homes warm and comfortable. These often-unseen efforts are crucial in ensuring minimal disruptions to your power supply. Reflecting on this, I’m struck by the incredible journey we’ve undertaken.
Think back to the late 1800s. Thomas Edison brought us the electric heater. It was a huge innovation, a game-changer in how we keep our homes warm and safe.
But here’s the catch — while Edison’s invention was revolutionary, it didn’t reach every corner of America overnight. In fact, for rural Alabama, including our beloved Wiregrass region, this technological marvel was a distant dream. We were still years away from feeling that electric warmth in our homes.
Enter Wiregrass Electric Cooperative in 1939. The cooperative didn’t just bring electricity to the region, it helped bridge the divide between urban and rural areas, strengthened our agricultural economy, ignited hope, powered dreams and, yes, eventually brought the comfort of electric heating to our community. We started stringing our network of power lines in 1940, literally connecting our community to the future, 1 pole at a time.
Flip back a few pages in our history, and you’ll see reliance on fireplaces and wood stoves. Sure, gathering around a fire has its charms, but let’s be honest. It’s smoky, less efficient, and takes quite a bit of elbow grease. Electric heating changed all that, bringing easy, controllable warmth to those unpredictable Southern cold snaps. Don’t get me wrong though. Home fireplaces can still help ease some of the load off your electric heating system and reduce demand during peak times.
Fast forward to today. Wiregrass Electric, with a proud team of 60 employees, is now recognized as the 2023 Alabama Small Business of the Year for companies of our size. This honor reflects our journey and our commitment and the enduring bond we share with the community. And, as you’ll see, our journey has been nothing short of extraordinary.
But a great deal of responsibility goes hand in hand with all that power. As our heaters crank up in the winter, we see a spike in electric demand, directly impacting power costs. It’s a balance between keeping warm and keeping costs down.
By being mindful of when and how we use electricity, especially during winter peak hours — 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. from November through February — we can keep our shared demand in check. The higher that peak in demand, the higher our fixed power costs are throughout the rest of the year. We strive to do all we can to keep your homes and businesses warm and your bills manageable, but you can help, too.
Lowering your home’s demand will help you save a few bucks on your power bill today and ensures our wholesale power supplier, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, doesn’t have to keep expanding its power generation infrastructure. Your actions will help keep costs affordable for years to come.
I encourage you to remember that our comfort today is built on the determination and vision of those who came before us. Our founding members laid the groundwork 85 years ago, and a hearty thanks to you, our current members, for keeping this spirit alive.
So, next time you turn up the heat on a frosty morning, remember the journey it took to get us here. Stay warm, but mindful, especially during those peak hours. Together, let’s keep the Wiregrass legacy burning bright!