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On Politics and Pole Attachments
Get the facts, and gear up for summer
By the time you read this article, the 106th General Assembly most likely will have adjourned after one of the more interesting sessions in quite some time. Politics has never been so well exemplified as when the Speaker of the House was determined to be a Republican but was supported only by Democrats.
More than 2,300 bills were introduced covering a variety of issues. This year, our legislators “on the hill” were especially focused on the budget deficit, stimulus funds from Washington, TennCare, unemployment and continuing issues such as pole attachments and workers compensation. Check our Web site at www.tmepa.org for the latest information.
A quick word on pole attachments: Our friends in the cable industry continue to talk about that unfair pole-attachment fee we electric companies charge. It’s implied that it’s a monthly fee. That is wrong. It’s an annual fee, and it averages about $15 per
YEAR across the state. Some systems charge less and some charge more. If you want to talk about monthly fees, it’s about
$1.25 per month per pole.
Per customer – assuming three customers per pole – that’s a little over 41 cents per family.
TMEPA has spent this past session monitoring legislation introduced that could adversely affect our member systems and their customers – folks like you. Those who assist us have worked tirelessly to protect the interests of our members and their customers. Our friends in the Legislature realize that the municipal power providers of Tennessee are doing an outstanding job, and, for the most part, they really don’t care to fix something that’s not broken. We applaud their efforts and work
hard to justify that confidence.
In July, the members of
TMEPA will gather in Knoxville
for our annual meeting. The focus will be on the burgeoning “green” industry, energy conservation, and technological strides made over the past few years in construction, energy conservation, automated meter reading and telecommunications.
Mike Vinson
Executive Director
Tennessee Municipal Electric Power Association
