Michael D. Garrett is president and CEO of Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of Southern Company. A native of McRae, Georgia, he began his Southern Company career in 1968 at Georgia Power and was named president and CEO of Georgia Power in 2004. He is chairman of the Georgia Department of Economic Development Board and also serves on the boards of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Central Atlanta Progress (CAP), the Georgia Cancer Coalition, the Buckhead Coalition and the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, among others. He is also a Morehouse College board trustee and serves on the board of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.
“As Georgia Power transformed cities, they in turn transformed Georgia Power.”
October 21, 2008 A Transforming Relationship Michael D. Garrett, President and CEO, Georgia Power
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Cities are powerful places. Cities meet very basic human needs. From the dawn of civilization, people have come together for protection and survival, but also for community and social interaction. Cities have been compared to shining beacons of hope and help.
We find our centers of government and commerce in cities. We frequently get specialized health care or earn advanced degrees in the institutions found in cities. You hop on a road, particularly a major one, and chances are, it will take you to a city.
The power lines you spot along the way are likely heading for a city as well. And that's where Georgia Power enters the picture. We have served this state for 125 years and, while today we serve rural areas and towns alike, we have had a special relationship with Georgia’s cities since our founding.
Whether powering streetcars or “lighting the pithy darkness” of city streets, as an early newspaper account put it, electrification brought huge changes to our cities right from the start of the electric age.
The changes were reciprocal, of course. As Georgia Power transformed cities, they in turn transformed Georgia Power. Growing businessess, efficiency and prosperity eventually led us away from just streetlights and trolley cars. We began to power homes and workplaces, revolutionizing the way of life for millions of people.
The franchise system further strengthened the bond between Georgia Power and Georgia’s cities. The fees we paid, and still pay, for the right to serve customers in a city helped those cities build infrastructure for more industry and growth in the post-war South. Each advance by one seemed to pave the way for the other, to the next opportunity.
While our early efforts, by necessity, focused on cities, the resulting growth helped us to branch out to power farms and rural areas as well.
In 1927, Georgia Power created its industrial development department to further support economic growth. The Champion Home Town Contest followed in 1935 as our first coordinated community development effort.
We continue to work in community and economic development to help our cities grow and prosper. We also continue to live and work in Georgia’s towns and cities, demonstrated by our 132 business offices across the state.
Electric Membership Corporations and municipal systems provide energy in Georgia as well. There are some 52 “electric cities,” as they are called, and we respect their mission. While we compete with them for large electric loads, increasingly, we work together on other issues such as helping each other during storms and promoting economic development regardless of service boundaries.
Georgia Power’s motto has long been A Citizen Wherever We Serve. To be a citizen is to be an inhabitant of a city or state, to be a member of the community. This is how we view ourselves. We are proud to be not just service providers but citizens of Georgia’s great cities that shine brightly for all to see.
