http://stemconline.com/about/careers/

Welcome home to Private Marshall “Mack” Cates who has been serving in Kuwait with the 268th Military Police. The 268th is the Army National Guard unit stationed at Ripley. Linemen Craig Fowler and Clay Beasley are in the bucket trucks hanging the flag to welcome him home. Private Cates, we all appreciate your service to our country!

Construction continues to be on schedule for the new Burlison Substation. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we work along Highway 59 and side roads to upgrade lines for the substation.

Residential Service

General Power 1 (GSA 1)

General Power 2 (GSA 2)

General Power 3 (GSA 3)

Outdoor Lighting

Even the small things can make a big difference by reducing mailbox clutter and helping the environment. Sign up to receive your statements online and eliminate the need for a paper bill to be mailed to you each month. It’s convenient, secure and helps the environment, too!
Conserve paper by viewing online copies of your paper statement and enjoy the convenience of paying your bill online if you choose:
• See your paper statement information online.
• Receive your statements sooner
• Have multiple statements delivered to the same email address.
• Have the option to pay your bill(s) online.
• Set up recurring charges to a credit card or checking account.
• Receive an email each month alerting you that your statement is available for viewing online.
• Save the images of your bills to your personal computer.
• Have less mail to sort through and fewer papers to file.
• Help the environment.
Already on our Bank Draft Service? Sign up for Paperless Billing and get your statements delivered online for even more convenience.
To sign up for Paperless Billing, go to our website:

http://stemconline.com/account/paperless-billing/

The sign up process is quick and easy and you can start doing your part to help the environment while enjoying the convenience of online bill payments! (Note that this requires a different login than your STEMC account login)
Once signed up, you will also be able to download an “app” to your IPhone or IPad, which will allow you to manage your account in the palm of your hand!
Paperless billing is a free service to Southwest members. There is a nominal fee for making an online payment.

Residential Service

General Power 1 (GSA 1)

General Power 2 (GSA 2)

General Power 3 (GSA 3)

Outdoor Lighting

Please bear with us as construction continues on the new Burlison Substation and the new electrical distribution lines needed to serve the area. There will be times that traffic on Highway 59 will be stopped for our construction activities. In particular, watch out for our men while they are working. Our tentative in service date is June 4, 2012.

(ARLINGTON, VA.) — Today, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Glenn English made the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed greenhouse gas regulation:

“NRECA and its member electric cooperatives are extremely disappointed to learn that the Obama Administration, in a New Source Performance Standard issued today by the EPA, has jettisoned American coal from the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy.

“Because commercially viable carbon capture and storage technology is still years away, the rules issued today by EPA have the practical effect of outlawing coal as a fuel source for the next generation of power plants. Alternatively, America’s electric cooperatives support an energy policy that maximizes energy efficiency and truly embraces all domestic fuels: nuclear, natural gas, renewable and coal.

“Politicians cannot have it both ways. Our nation can’t embrace the concept of energy independence and at the same time turn our backs on America’s most abundant domestic fuel source.”

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.

A life-long fascination with fabric has created a passion for quilting for Patty Mayhew, a member services representative in Southwest Tennessee Electric’s Jackson office.

Patty gives her mother credit for her love of fabric. “My Mother was a seamstress, and I always had fabric around me. I loved to look at all the colors.”

Patty’s first attempt to quilt was in 1985 when she attended a quilting class in a Ben Franklin department store while living in Ohio. The class lasted for one month.  Patty was determined to learn more, so she read, looked at magazines, asked questions. Her passion for quilting became a self-taught art.

“The winters were so cold up North, and the snow was so abundant,” said Patty. “It was too difficult to get outside, so I quilted.” Some of her first quilts were the Dresden Plate and Grandmother’s Flower Garden designs. Her early quilts were hand pieced using a Cool Whip lid for the template.

Patty thinks all fabric is beautiful, but her favorite is Civil War fabric. In the days of slavery, quilts were made, and each patterned block would relay messages to slaves preparing to escape. Quilts slung over a fence or windowsill, seemingly to air, passed on the necessary information to knowing slaves. Patty has made an Underground Railroad pattern where each block tells a story. “Quilts share stories of our heritage and the history of our nation,” says Patty.

“I do not sell my quilt tops and rarely give them away. They are like children,” she says. “Each one is special, and I have an attachment to each.” Her favorite creation is an Amish Log Cabin wall hanging. “It was one of my first, and it has such beautiful colors,” she says. “It makes me feel good when I look at it.”

Recently, a Jackson fabric store held a contest for originally designed quilt blocks. The winners were to be pieced and used as a hanging in the Jackson Madison County Library. Patty’s husband, David, designed a block, and she pieced it for the competition. Her signed block is now a part of the quilt hanging in the library.

Someone asked Patty if she felt she had a masterpiece within her that had not yet been designed.   “It’s possible, and maybe someday it will be revealed,” said Patty. Her advice to beginning quilters is to start with a simple pattern like the Log Cabin and to use 100% cotton fabric.

“Quilting has become a hobby that is creative and soothing to my soul,” said Patty. “A quilt can be like our lives—bits and pieces, joy and sorrow, stitched with love”.