Excelling at social media doesn’t happen overnight. Building your audience takes time, dedication and consistent messaging. To help ensure your success, we recommend using a simple but power tool: a social media calendar.

Public power’s most urgent priority is to build a comprehensive cybersecurity program at every utility, association, and joint action agency. In response, Hometown Connections, the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association, provides public power organizations with three lines of defense against cyber threats: threat monitoring by N-Dimension Solutions, program development by AESI, and liability insurance by Wortham Power Gen Insurance.

The adage "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" doesn’t apply just to health. Ben Franklin said, "Diligence is the mother of good luck," and any good Girl Scout can tell you the No. 1 rule is to always be prepared. So it’s not surprising that when it comes to protecting the nation’s grid, experts give the same advice: Take measures now to prevent and prepare for an attack. And those attacks are as front-and-center as ever.

The next generation of substations does more than bring electricity to the community. It becomes a platform for community engagement and education. Storage, data, and digitization are changing the paradigm in electricity distribution.

Cybersecurity includes protection in a lot of areas - email, firewall, virus scanner, etc. It also should include making sure the new devices don't inadvertently provide a way in. The new "Internet of Things" means even more must be considerations in keeping networks safe.

There’s an evolution taking place in the utilities industry to build a modern distribution automation grid. As the demand for digitized, connected and integrated operations increases across all industries, the challenge for utilities is to provide reliable energy delivery with a focus on efficiency and sustainable sources. The pressing need to improve the uptime of critical power distribution infrastructure is forcing change. However, as power networks merge and become ‘smarter,’ the benefits of improved connectivity also bring greater cybersecurity risks, threatening to impact progress.

This past Annual Meeting was my last with TMEPA. July 28th will be my last day. I can't begin to express my thanks to each of you for making these past years such a delight for my wife and I. When we came to TMEPA in 2003, I truly thought I was simply changing jobs and going on to the next position. Little did I realize that this would become our home in every way.

Embracing the Air Force core values of "Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do," new Executive Director/CEO Brian Solsbee takes the helm of TMEPA.

A few weeks ago, the United States of America celebrated its 241st birthday. There were Lions Club BBQs, rounds of golf, fishing and jet skiing on the lake, family and neighborhood cookouts, parades, ceremonies, all topped off with the spectacle of fireworks. How did some of the 56 patriotic souls who signed their name to the Declaration of Independence fare during and after the Revolutionary War for taking a stand for their country?

Anytime there is a statewide elected office up for grabs without an incumbent, there is a scramble of people declaring themselves candidates for the position. This also means there is a resulting musical chairs of candidates running for different positions in which incumbents are running for the statewide or other elected position. Across the state there is a domino effect of people not running for re-election and are instead running for newly vacant positions. Throw in an appointment to a federal judgeship, and there is certainly a lot of moving pieces to Tennessee’s election landscape.

President Donald Trump has nominated energy lawyer Kevin McIntyre to chair the vacancy-plagued commission that oversees the nation's power grid and natural gas pipelines. Only one commissioner currently serves on the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, leaving it without a quorum and unable to make decisions on interstate pipelines and other projects worth billions of dollars.

Last week TMEPA held its Annual Meeting at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Let's take a brief look at the meetings, discussions, awards, and a farewell and a beginning.

Would you like to receive daily updates about Tennessee politics and electric utilities, delivered every morning to your inbox? TMEPA Daily News Clips is a list of news articles curated from hundreds of news articles we believe are of interest to TMEPA members. If you would like to receive the clips, just send an email to any of the staff (bsolsbee@tmepa.org, susans@tmepa.org or jelrod@tmepa.org). You can also see the current and past six days on our website by clicking on lick on the link below.

The Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, or EPB, provides electric power and 21st century fiber optic communications services to customers in the greater Chattanooga, Tennessee area. EPB’s electric service area includes nearly 180,000 homes and businesses in a 600 square-mile area that covers most of Hamilton County, as well as parts of surrounding counties and areas of North Georgia.

Have an important meeting or event coming to your town? Let us know and we'll put it on the TMEPA Calendar. Stay up to date with all the TMEPA meetings and other events around the state and even nationally for TMEPA Member Systems.

The Business & Financial Conference attracts utility professionals in the areas of customer accounting, customer services, accounting, finance, human resources, information technology, pricing, and market analysis. Conference attendees are typically managers, directors, or vice presidents in their area of specialty, but the meeting is also appropriate for other utility professionals interested in the topics and networking with other public power professionals. The Conference is being held in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Nashville Convention Center.

Tullahoma Utilities Authority is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Electric Engineering Supervisor or Electric Engineer. This position will be responsible for a wide range of activities and key functions for the Tullahoma Utilities Authority. These responsibilities include but are not limited to engineering and system planning, program administration, and technology support.

Loudon Utilities Board, a municipal electric, natural gas, wastewater, and water utility, is seeking an Electrical Engineer for its Loudon, Tennessee, operations. Working under the instructions of the Director of Engineering, the individual awarded this position will have responsibilities in the following areas.......:

Tennessee Job Training & Safety (JT&S) Public Works Program has an immediate need for Safety Instructors who can work onsite in the Tennessee Valley Area. JT&S is a joint venture between the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Murfreesboro, Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association, and the Tennessee Municipal Electric Power Association. The program provides job training and training and support in health and safety issues for both municipal and cooperative utilities throughout the state of Tennessee. JT&S is based at the Murfreesboro campus of Tennessee College of Applied Technology.

The City of Sparta, Tennessee is seeking qualified applicants for the position of Lineman with the Sparta Electric System. Sparta is located 90 miles east of Nashville, TN, 95 miles west of Knoxville, TN and 80 miles north of Chattanooga, TN. The service territory includes a 6.3 square mile service area with approximately 3,000 meters.

The City of Alcoa, Tennessee, is seeking a Utility Arborist Leadworker to manage the vegetation management program of the Electric Department. The Arborist will coordinate and oversee the work of contractor and city crews in the management of trees, brush, and other vegetation in an effort to decrease power outages and improve the operations of the utility’s transmission and distribution system.

Technical Sales Support Advisor is responsible for providing quality and efficient technical and account related assistance to customer. Applicants will need to visit www.musfiber.net to apply by 7/25/17.

Under close supervision to apply entry level engineering principles to the development/maintenance of compatible/macro units which consist of resources such as materials, equipment, manpower and accounting for electric, gas and water distribution systems; provide quality control of the work management system by analyzing, troubleshooting, monitoring/explaining the work management process and its interaction with Division areas. Bachelor’s degree in Engineering. Must have 0-2 years of engineering experience. Must successfully complete NIMS training within one year of entering job.

Two municipal power providers ranked high in the J.D. Power 2017 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study. EPB of Chattanooga ranked highest in the midsize utility segment in the South region for the second consecutive year. Jackson Energy Authority ranked in fourth in the midsize utility category in the South region.

On May 8, the America Public Power Association (APPA) announced four Tennessee municipal power providers have earned the APPA Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2016. The recipients are Ripley Power & Light, Tullahoma Utilities Authority, Bolivar Energy Authority, and Morristown Utilities. Congratulations!

Newport Utilities will be adding Broadband Fiber to its services to the community. Its utility board and city council approved offering the new services at the end of June.

Chattanooga is on its way to laying down ground rules for expanding the city's wireless infrastructure. Chattanooga City Council voted 9-0 last week in favor of new regulations for short-range "small cell" emitters, located on poles and other fixtures. The new technology, instead of large cell towers, is expected to create the next wave of bandwidth capacity.