HOW TO PREPARE
When locating/relocating a manufactured home, remember to include Gibson EMC in your planning process so that we can provide you with electric service when you need it. Contact us by calling 731-855-4740 or click here to find a nearby Member Service Center.
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Notify Gibson EMC 30 days before you need electricity so we can obtain underground utility clearance and complete engineering and construction work.
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We will need your billing information: name, social security number, phone number, mailing address and credit information.
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We will need location information: the 911 address and directions to the site.
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Manufactured home should be onsite.
Once Gibson EMC has the above information, our field engineer will visit the job site within five working days. Then when engineering is complete, a letter will be sent advising you of any construction charges and your available methods of payment.
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State law requires that a sewer permit be obtained from either the health department or local city hall. You must present this sewer permit at Gibson EMC when purchasing your electrical permit.
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Electrical permits may be purchased at any Gibson EMC Customer Service Center, and may be paid with cash, check or money order. A copy of the electrical permit should be placed in the meter base for the state electrical inspector.
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You must call Tennessee One Call (dial 811) no later than 72 hours prior to excavation so that all underground utilities can be located and marked. Tennessee One-Call notifications for excavation performed by Gibson EMC will be handled by our employees.
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A state deputy electrical inspector will conduct an electrical inspection after the wiring is roughed in (before insulation and wall covering) and when the wiring is complete and all panel covers and face covers are installed.
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Call Gibson EMC to schedule an inspection by a state deputy electrical inspector.
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Gibson EMC will schedule your meter to be set after the final electrical inspection is passed and arrangements are made for payment of charges.
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If your inspection does not pass, you are required by law to purchase another permit for re-inspection.
Please contact any Gibson EMC member service center if you have questions or need additional information.
APPLY FOR ELECTRIC SERVICE
To protect your identity, we must require that you come into one of our six member service centers to complete the application for service. Click here for our member service center addresses and telephone numbers. When you visit our office to apply for service, please bring with you two forms of government identification, one of which is a photo ID. Examples of government issued identification include a driver license with photo and a social security card. There are fees associated with receiving service and a deposit may be required. Descriptions of our Traditional Billing Option and our Pay-Go option are below:
Each new member must sign Gibson EMC’s standard form of application and pay a $5 membership fee. Before receiving service, a member also must pay a connect fee of $40 during regular business hours or $80 after regular business hours. Members have the choice of Traditional Billing or Pay-Go:
Members who choose Traditional Billing will be charged a deposit equaling the sum of the highest two consecutive monthly bills in the last twelve months, rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. Locations with inadequate history will be estimated considering pertinent structure information. Interest will accrue on all deposits. The interest rate will be reviewed and set in December of each year. On the third anniversary date of any security deposit, such deposit and any accrued interest will be credited to the member's electric account unless there has been a cut-off for failure to pay an account within the past 36 months; then the refund will be extended until the member has established 36 consecutive months of service with no cut-offs for non-payment. Upon termination of service, the deposit will be applied by the cooperative against unpaid bills of the member and if any balance remains, the balance will be refunded to the member.
Members who choose Pay-Go pay the same electric rate, the same $5 membership fee, and the same connection fees as those who choose Traditional Billing. However, no deposit is required with Pay-Go because the member pre-pays for electricity and applicable monthly fees are pro-rata. In addition to the membership fee and connection fee, a member must pay $40 toward his/her account balance. After set-up, there is a $40 minimum payment for customer service representative assisted transactions, but there is no minimum payment for our telephone automated attended transactions or for payments received through this website. There are other advantages to Pay-Go: participants can monitor their energy use on a daily basis by e-mail or through Gibson EMC's automated phone system. Low balance alerts can be received via text and automated phone messages; and payments can be made using cash, Check-by-Phone, or debit or credit VISA, MasterCard, American Express or Discover. Additionally, members say they like Pay-Go because the information they receive helps them use energy more efficiently.
For more information on Pay-Go, click HERE.
ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE
In an effort to deliver you exceptional service, Gibson EMC embraces technological advancements like advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). A comprehensive analysis and pilot project launched in 2005 demonstrated this technology would be a sound financial investment and improve service to you, our member-owner. Since that time, all of Gibson EMC’s residential members’ services have been equipped with automatic meters.
With AMI, power usage information is remotely read and sent to Gibson EMC across its power lines. The information communicated from the meter includes the amount of electricity used by the member, instantaneous voltage, blinks or momentary power interruptions and power outages occurring at the member's point of service. AMI benefits members in the short-term by providing more detailed information about electric usage since the meters are remotely read on a daily basis. It also provides blink and outage information to Gibson EMC, helping us to pinpoint outages and restore power more quickly.
The equipment even identifies specific members affected by an outage and confirms power restoration before our personnel leave an area. And, because the meter is read remotely, there are fewer times when we must come onto a member's property. In the long-term, AMI data will enable Gibson EMC to more accurately maintain, plan and engineer our electric system. This improved efficiency will help hold down future costs to you, our member.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
A: AMI uses a meter specially equipped to remotely and systematically communicate to Gibson EMC information including the amount of electricity used by the member-owner, blinks or momentary power interruptions, and power outages occurring at the member's service point.
A: Gibson EMC is continually seeking out ways to better serve our members. After considerable analysis, our board and management determined that AMI technology would be a sound financial investment that also would enable us to improve service.
It is a win-win; the savings AMI generates pays for the equipment while the additional and more expedient information it generates results in better service.
A: AMI improves the accuracy of meter reading and it enables us to provide more information to members about their use of energy. Before AMI, we were only able to determine the amount of electricity used between readings performed at the site of the meter; the readings usually covered a month’s usage since that was our normal reading frequency. With AMI, Gibson EMC receives information from members’ meters on a daily basis.
AMI also provides blink and outage information to Gibson EMC. This helps us pinpoint outages, enables us to get personnel to the problem area more quickly, identify specific members affected by an outage, and confirm power restoration to those members before our personnel leave an area. (Of course, we urge members to continue to call their local Gibson EMC member service centers and report outages to aid in rapid service restoration.) And, because the meter is read remotely, there are fewer occasions when we must come onto a member’s property, increasing privacy.
Indirectly, AMI benefits the member because Gibson EMC has additional data and more accurate data to use for electric system maintenance, planning and engineering; in the long-term, this will yield savings to the cooperative and its members. Less substantial, will be the savings AMI will produce through the aversion of electricity theft.