From the Board of Trustees
Fall in Alabama. It’s a time for festivals celebrating everything from shrimp to bluegrass. It’s a time for cooler temperatures, kids going back to school and pumpkinflavored… well, everything.
There’s something else in the fall that can simultaneously bring families together and cause the fiercest of divisions, at times within the same household. It’s the stuff of ritual in this part of the world, and we take it about as seriously as church on Sundays and Grandma’s chicken and dumplings.
It’s football, and believe it or not, it’s that time once again.
What is it about football that inspires such loyalty in us? Every person you ask would probably offer a slightly different answer. But most agree, there’s just something so alluring about strangers forming a camaraderie to celebrate wins and share the burden of losses.
Time out. That sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?
Eighty years ago, a group of farmers in south Alabama set out to do pretty much the same thing. They formed a cooperative – a team if you will, that would work together to bring a big win to our area. It wasn’t a football trophy, but rather a modern convenience that would forever improve their way of life: electricity.
The team they helped formed so many years ago has grown substantially, and today functions a lot like the football teams that draw us into our TV screens every week.
And when it comes to working together for you, we’re willing to play offense and defense at the same time.
You can think of our offense as the planning and preparations we do to make sure that we’re ahead of the game when it comes to meeting your needs. Whether it’s planning for new substations, forecasting power loads or inspecting and changing out poles that could possibly cause an issue, our offensive line is always thinking ahead.
Unfortunately, turnovers happen to even the best teams, just like power outages happen to us. That’s when our defensive line springs to action. And while our linemen are the most visible part, they’re not the only members of our team springing into action. Behind the scenes, you’ll find a team of dedicated employees answering your calls, managing outages from our control center, communicating with the media, stocking and restocking our warehouses, and responding to safety concerns among many other necessary tasks.
Our team also has a coach. We’re not referring to the Board or any member of management. Our coach is you. Your input and involvement help us decide on what plays to run and know whether we’re moving the ball in the right direction.
Spring, summer, winter or fall – that’s how our team plays every day. We take our commitment to you about as seriously as Alabamians take their football.