Making your voice heard on energy policy
March 1, 2025
For Palmetto Electric Cooperative, reliability is central to our mission and, quite frankly, our very existence. The last thing we want is to come up short in providing our members the power you need when you need it. Of course, not everything is up to us.
Weather events like hurricanes and ice storms can wreak havoc on our system no matter how well we prepare. A less obvious factor is the availability of the electricity we generate as a state. For as long as I can remember, we haven’t had to seriously worry about this. Our state has historically had plenty of electricity to meet our needs.
But the availability of electricity could become a challenge. Our power supply isn’t growing fast enough to keep up with our state’s rapid growth. South Carolina needs more electricity, especially for frigid winter mornings and sweltering summer afternoons when the power grid strains to meet peak demands.
Government policies and regulations play an important role in the energy that’s available to us. They always have, from legislation that allowed the creation of electric cooperatives in the 1930s to the government’s role in hydroelectric power plant construction to recent regulations requiring the shutdown of coal-fired power plants.
Our co-op is fortunate that these elected officials are our friends and neighbors and that they understand the needs of the co-op members and the communities we serve. As a member-owned co-op, our service to you includes doing everything in our power to make sure our state and country’s energy policies enable us to deliver the power you need, when you need it, and at a price you can afford.
That work is critical again this year as the S.C. General Assembly considers energy policies that will determine how we meet your power needs. On Feb. 13, a day we call Co-op Day at the State House, our board members and employees joined other electric cooperatives in bringing your voice to policy makers. On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of co-op members across our state, we expressed a vision for a future that keeps electricity safe, reliable and affordable.
It is far from the end of our efforts to help shape our state’s energy policies for the better. Rest assured your co-op is doing all we can to safeguard South Carolina’s energy future.
A. Berl Davis Jr.
President and CEO
