Cobb Electric Membership Corporation
| Company type | Non-profit cooperative |
|---|---|
| Industry | Electric utility |
| Founded | 1938 |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow, Paulding, and portions of Fulton counties, Georgia |
| Products | Electricity |
| Website | www |
Established in 1938, Cobb Electric Membership Corporation (Cobb EMC) operates as a non-profit electric utility provider covering areas within Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow, Paulding, and portions of Fulton counties in the state of Georgia. By 2009, Cobb EMC recorded electricity sales surpassing 3.8 billion kilowatt-hours (equivalent to 13.7 billion megajoules).
Initially serving just 489 residential members alongside 14 commercial customers, Cobb EMC’s service area has expanded to approximately 200,000 residential and business accounts—more than 180,000 of which are located in northwest metro Atlanta. This growth positions it among the largest electric membership cooperatives both statewide and nationally. Nevertheless, the majority of inhabitants within Cobb and neighboring counties receive electricity from Georgia Power, while customers inside the city boundaries of Marietta are supplied by the municipal utility, Marietta Power.
Cobb EMC provides incentives through a customer rebate program aimed at encouraging the installation of solar panel systems. In collaboration with Green Power EMC in 2009, it procured 17 megawatts of energy from a biomass-fueled facility that had been modernized at the former Fruit of the Loom factory site in Rabun Gap, demonstrating its commitment to renewable energy investments.
Cobb Energy
Founded in 1997 as a for-profit entity, Cobb Energy Management Corporation, commonly referred to as Cobb Energy, functioned as a subsidiary of Cobb EMC. Following a 2007 investigative report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shareholders filed a lawsuit alleging that cooperative funds were improperly diverted to Cobb Energy. The legal proceedings concluded favorably for the shareholders by April 2010, resulting in Cobb Energy’s absorption back into the non-profit cooperative structure. Due to ongoing litigation, co-op board elections had been postponed since 2007 but were scheduled to recommence in the fall of 2011.
In January 2011, the CEO of Cobb EMC faced arrest on charges including racketeering and theft connected to an alleged misappropriation exceeding $50 million through Cobb Energy operations. Despite these controversies, Cobb EMC had previously obtained naming rights for the new Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, which continues to bear that name.
Partners and affiliates
- ENERGY STAR
- Green Power EMC
- Gas South
- Touchstone Energy
- Georgia Electric Membership Corporation (Georgia EMC)
External links
- Cobb EMC, official website
- Cobb Energy, official website
- Cobb EMC Truth, oversight organization
- Take Back Cobb EMC, community advocacy group
- Gas South, fully owned subsidiary
- Articles with short description
- Pages using infobox company with unknown parameters
- Energy companies established in 1938
- Cobb County, Georgia
- Cherokee County, Georgia
- Bartow County, Georgia
- Paulding County, Georgia
- Fulton County, Georgia
- Calhoun County, Georgia
- Clay County, Georgia
- Quitman County, Georgia
- Randolph County, Georgia
- Electric power companies of the United States
- 1938 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)