Decision Making
- Decisions concerning the residential and business electricity rates in a public power community are made in the hometown, with local input, local knowledge and an appreciation for community needs.
- Local decision-making allows a community to adjust rates for various reasons: to attract new business, support an expanding one, purchase equipment or invest in new technology.
Environmental Goals
- Public power communities make decisions on energy sources to match their sustainability and environmental goals, and control their local conservation efforts, as well.
- MEAG Power offers one of the cleanest power portfolios in the Southeast at 69% emissions-free – and is getting even cleaner.
By 2045, our target is to be nearly 90% emissions-free.
Government Efficiency
- Public power allows for improved local government efficiency and collaboration through sharing of personnel, equipment and supplies.
Favorable Financing
- Public power communities have access to low-cost, tax-exempt financing for funding capital projects to maintain and improve their systems.
Hometown Employment
- The local utility is headquartered in town and creates local jobs for customer service representatives, lineworkers, engineers, mechanics, and administrators. Kids growing up in public power communities can find a career right in their hometown. Each dollar of a public power employee’s paycheck circulates through the local economy an estimated four to five times.
Recurring Revenue
- Because the community owns the electric utility, revenues from that asset stay and are reinvested in the community. This substantial, recurring revenue stream can help lower property taxes and fuel local economic growth and enhanced services.
Quality Service
- When customers need help, their calls are answered locally and the utility can respond to outages faster. For public power communities, providing the highest quality service to its customer owners has always been the No. 1 priority.
Economic Development
- City officials and utility managers often work together to create economic development programs. Many public power communities are proud to offer special rates that entice businesses to set up shop.
Community Growth
- Public power fosters an emphasis on long-term community growth: roads, parks, cultural events, youth and senior programs, and more – projects everyone knows make their hometown a better place.
Community Ownership
- At public power utilities, governance begins at the ballot box and is carried out through the city or town council and utility board. Business is conducted in the open, and citizens know where their power comes from and how and why decisions affecting their utility bills are made.
- Because public power utilities are not-for-profit and community-owned, there is no split allegiance between customers and shareholders.
Affordable Power
- Public power utilities serve only their customer owners, not remote shareholders. With no profit motive and only the community’s best interests at heart, they keep electricity rates reasonable through a transparent process.
- Public power residential customers pay an average of 11.8% less for their electricity than residential customers of investor-owned utilities, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
Superior Reliability
- The American Public Power Association reports that, excluding major events, customers of a public power utility are likely to be without power for almost half the time of private utility customers – 75 minutes a year, compared to 142 minutes. At least part of the reason is that crews, equipment and administration are located nearby.
- In 2020, MEAG Power delivered 99.998% overall power delivery system reliability.