More than 1,000 chairs were set up for the 2014 Annual Membership Meeting of South Alabama Electric Cooperative at Cattleman Park Tuesday. The chairs were filled and the walls were lined for the meeting that opened at 11 a.m. and closed shortly after 3 p.m.

SAEC serves 11,000 members in Pike, Coffee and Crenshaw counties and also some members in Butler, Lowndes and Dale counties.

Max Davis, SAEC general manager, said he was extremely pleased with the number of members who attended the annual meeting.

“SAEC is a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative and, each year, we invite our members to join us for our annual meeting,” Davis said. “We want our members to be involved when we conduct business and to be aware of the financial status of our cooperative. We want to inform them about the impact the EPA may have on utilities and what else is coming down the road.”

Davis had good news for the SAEC members and for other consumers of electricity.

“Through June 2015, the cost of electricity should remain stable for SAEC members and for all Alabama,” he said. “But then, it will depend on EPA’s final ruling on power plants. That ruling will potentially affect our utility rates.”

Davis said, if Alabama’s coal-fueled, power plants are closed, an alternate fuel will have to be found to generate electricity.

The cost of the alternate fuel and the cost of building new plants to generate electricity using the alternate fuel source could have a big impact on what people pay for electricity, Davis said.

“We want our members to be informed on what’s going on with the EPA and how they may be affected,” Davis said.

Trustee elections were held for Districts 3 and 4 and At-Large at the annual meeting.

“Again this year, the turnout for our annual meeting was tremendous,” Davis said. “Entertainment was provided by Fresh Anointing and the Chuck Wagon Gang. Both groups were excellent and everyone enjoyed them.

“We also awarded a large number of prizes as a way of showing appreciation to our members and as an encouragement for them to come and learn more about SAEC and the services in provides for them. We want our members to have a voice in how their cooperative operates and, the Annual Membership Meeting gives them that opportunity.”