History of Public Power
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, electricity was slowly making itsway to North Carolina's cities and towns. Often, electricity wasbrought into the area by the city and used primarily to powerstreetlights to brighten the downtown after dark. Power was generatedby coal-fired generators and was produced only during the evening andnight hours.
The City of Statesville created the first municipally owned electricutility when it began providing service in 1889. As demand for lightinggrew, electricity was brought into citizens' homes. Soon after, newappliances such as the sewing machine, clothes washer and refrigeratorwere invented to simplify daily chores. At the same time, industry wasbecoming modernized, and industrial demand for electricity grewaccordingly. Cities began to see their electric load grow by leaps andbounds.
What started as a novelty was becoming a full-fledged utilityservice. During the early 1900s, North Carolina cities were growingquickly. Areas that were little more than a crossroads developed intotowns, with citizens who needed electric service. North Carolina'sinvestor-owned utilities were sometimes unwilling to invest ininfrastructure to run power lines to outlying areas, so NorthCarolina's cities and towns stepped in and began to invest in electrictransmission to serve North Carolina citizens.
Today, there are over 70 public power communities across the state,serving 535,000 North Carolinians. 51 cities are members of twomunicipal power agencies: North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number1 (NCMPA1), serving piedmont and western North Carolina, and the NorthCarolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA), serving eastern NorthCarolina. The remaining public power communities are independentdistributors of electricity that buy their power wholesale and transmitit to their customers.
North Carolina's public power communities continue to be strong,vibrant areas in which to work and live. Public power customers benefitfrom utility policy established by officials who live and work wherethey do. That local control, with local operation, benefits customersby allowing electric revenue to stay in the community, enabling publicpower cities to grow and prosper.
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