Another group of plaintiffs is taking on Cobb EMC.

Six customers of the Marietta-based electric cooperative, including a former Cobb County commissioner and a prominent local businessman, sued the co-op's officers and board members on the co-op's behalf Monday.

The suit also named Cobb Energy, a Cobb EMC affiliate that has been operating the non-profit co-op for a profit for a decade.

The six plaintiffs include former County Commissioner Joseph "Butch" Thompson, businessman Edgar "Bo" Pounds, a forensic accounting firm and three other customers of the co-op.

They accuse the defendants of gross mismanagement, breach of fiduciary duty, self-enrichment and waste of corporate assets, related to the relationship between Cobb EMC and Cobb Energy.

"Tens of millions of dollars have been siphoned away" from the member-owned co-op through that relationship, the lawsuit says.

It asks the court to declare the relationship between Cobb EMC and Cobb Energy illegal, and to order an independent accounting of Cobb EMC's finances.

A lawyer for Cobb EMC said Monday afternoon he had not yet seen the suit.

The new lawsuit asks for a court-monitored Cobb EMC board election and asks for court-ordered governance reforms.

The lawsuit seeks restitution to Cobb EMC from Cobb Energy and other defendants. It also seeks punitive damages from the man who is chief executive officer of both Cobb EMC and Cobb Energy, Dwight Brown, as well as against directors who sit on the boards of both.

Monday's lawsuit is the second since an August story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first raised questions about the relationship between Cobb EMC and Cobb Energy.

Cobb EMC, a rural electric cooperative founded in 1938, transferred most of its employees and operations to Cobb Energy in 1998.

The co-op described the move as part of a larger strategy to fend off hostile takeovers and competition in the event of the deregulation then widely expected.

Deregulation never arrived.

Cobb Energy has a 40-year contract to operate the cooperative, and earns a profit on the work.

Co-op insiders, including Brown, co-op employees and, according to the lawsuit, two co-op board members, own stock in Cobb Energy.

The lawsuit said both Brown and board members who are involved in both companies have an inherent conflict of interest.

They have a fiduciary duty to provide the co-op and its members with electricity at the lowest price possible, the suit says.

They also have a fiduciary duty to maximize the profits of Cobb Energy, including profits earned by selling management services to the co-op, according to the filing.

"These duties are completely in conflict with each other," the lawsuit says.

Brown and board members "cannot simultaneously wear both hats."

A first lawsuit related to the co-op was filed in September. It was a class-action lawsuit and the defendants have asked that it be dismissed, saying it wasn't properly filed.

The new lawsuit avoids some of the flaws alleged against the first one.

Filed by Carr, Tabb, Pope & Freeman, a well-known plaintiff's law firm, it's a derivative lawsuit, much like a shareholder claim.

As required by state co-op and derivative law, the law firm gave the Cobb EMC board 30 days to fix the alleged problems, essentially asking it to sue itself.

The 30 days expired a week ago.