AUGUST 2015

By now you have probably heard or read that the electric cooperative serving our region has made efforts to purchase Murfreesboro Electric Department. I would like to spend a little time explaining a term you’re going to hear from us throughout this process: “due diligence.”

Have you ever come upon a deal that sounded too good to be true? Maybe you had the opportunity to purchase a car at a price well below market value. Did you jump at that chance immediately? Or did you spend some time comparing prices, looking up Kelley Blue Book values or running a Carfax report? If so, you practiced due diligence.

That is exactly what MED is do-ing. For 75 years, the residents and businesses of Murfreesboro have worked to build a reliable, finan-cially sound electric distribution system. Your city owns MED. It is a tremendous asset, providing crit-ical infrastructure our customers depend on to power our lives. It supports jobs and drives economic development. It lights our homes, churches, schools and ball fields. It cooks our meals and washes our clothes.

With something so important to your life and to the future of your

Continued next page, see Manager

What Is MED Truly Worth?

Steve Sax, General Manager

MED AND THE BIRTH OF PUBLIC POWER IN MURFREESBORO

For 75 years, MED has been serving the people of Murfrees-boro and helping grow our in-dustry and businesses.

While MED wouldn’t be found-ed until the end of the decade, our roots really go back to the early 1930s. With rural America still in the depths of the Great Depression, President Frank-lin D. Roosevelt was looking for ways to get the country working again. The New Deal was created to do just that, and out of it the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was born, tasked with improving flood control, river navigation, economic and agricultural devel-opment, along with the “genera-tion of public electrical power.”

TVA would go on to purchase the Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCO), a statewide private utility that was provid-ing electricity to Murfreesboro at the time. After a Supreme Court decision confirmed TVA’s right to offer public power in the area, Murfreesboro residents acted quickly to estab-

lish their own public electric utility on Au-gust 16, 1939.

MED was a small group when it first took over TEPCO’s M u r f r e e s b o r o coverage. Just a single line crew was responsible for building, m a i n t a i n i n g and repairing all distribution lines through-out the city, while a handful of office staff worked with the cus-tomers. Their efforts didn’t go to waste as by 1951 MED had brought electricity to 5,500 cus-tomers.

By 1982, MED had weathered the energy crisis of the early ’70s and now covered 15,370 custom-ers with 248 miles of line. That powered the new household

appliances and devices in-vented throughout the de-cade. The department’s modernity was reflected in its 1986 headquarters expansion, which gave the city the building it knows to this day.

But the upgrades didn’t stop at archi-tecture. In 1993, MED installed a Superviso-ry Control and Data

Acquisition (SCADA) system to monitor substations for prob-lems like downed lines and blown transformers. That system was further upgraded in 2001 with the addition of digital map-ping and the Two-Way Automatic Communication System to iso-late problem areas even better and to help us provide the quick response times our customers enjoy.

As the year goes on, we look forward to sharing more of your electric department’s proud past — and to another 75 years of powering our city.

TO REPORT APOWER OUTAGE:615-893-5515

Manager, continued from frontcity, there is no question we should practice due diligence before any decisions are made. If the city of Murfreesboro decides to sell this critical asset it has spent 75 years building, it must be because our re-search shows that selling MED is in the overall best interest of the peo-ple of Murfreesboro.

And that’s what we are working to find out.

Think about it this way. If some-one came to you and offered a lot of money for your home, you might be tempted to accept the offer at first. But then you would most like-ly step back and think about what your home was really worth to you, beyond just its market value. You would consider the location, the lifestyle you enjoy there, how it will meet your needs in the years ahead and many other factors. You would practice due diligence.

As this process moves forward in the months ahead, all of us at MED want you to know that we are prac-ticing due diligence, too. We will study all issues, determine the true value of MED and make certain that your best interest is kept at the fore-front of all negotiations.

SAVE THE DATE

Public Power Week is coming to MED October 11 to 17

SmartHub makes managing your electric bill easy

MED is proud to team up with SmartHub to give our customers one more way to safely and securely manage their electric accounts.

With the SmartHub app, MED customers can access their account information from whatever platform is most convenient, whether it’s sitting at the computer, relaxing with a tablet or on the go with their smartphone. Now, customers can view and pay their bill online, get account updates — including energy usage alerts — and more.

Getting started is simple. You can sign up for SmartHub on any device with an Internet connection. All you need is your account number, which can be found on your monthly MED bill.

How can SmartHub make your life easier? It can help you:

� Pay your bill immediately and securely with online payments

� Check My Usage tab for your daily electricity usage and history, allowing you to track your energy consumption

� Manage your personal account information and view payment history

� Register to get email or text notifications about

any activity on your account � Contact us with any customer service requests

you may haveAll MED customers are eligible to sign up for

SmartHub at murfreesboroelectric.com. And while you’re there, don’t forget to reduce the clutter on your desk (and the strain on the environment) by signing up for paperless billing!

Have questions? Call us at 615-893-5514 today!

GET THE APP!iOS UsersScan this QR code to access SmartHub in the Apple iTunes App Store.

Andriod UsersScan this QR code to access SmartHub in the Apple iTunes App Store.

PHONE: 615-893-5514

EMAIL: customerservice@murfreesboroelectric.com

MAIL: PO Box 9 • Murfreesboro, TN 37133-0009

WALK-IN/DRIVE-THRU: 205 North Walnut Street, Murfreesboro, TN

ONLINE: www.MurfreesboroElectric.com

FACEBOOK: Search “Murfreesboro Electric Department”

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