Public Power Current

For water and electric utilities, it is critical to communicate with customers about potential leaks, rate changes and outages. Speed and clarity are essential to ensuring water is not wasted and customers know about outages. This boosts customer satisfaction. The use of texting by the City of Bryan, Texas, and Bryan Texas Utilities has yielded a wide range of benefits.

All high pressure sodium street light fixtures within the City on Manitowoc, Wisconsin, have now been upgraded to LED.

The City of Rochester, Minnesota, and Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) have each been awarded funding through the Minnesota Solar on Public Buildings Program to install new solar energy systems on the rooftops of their facilities.

At its September 18 meeting, the WPPI Energy Board of Directors re-elected Michael Avanzi (Kaukauna Utilities), Steve Brooks (Waupun Utilities), Casey Engebretson (Black River Falls Municipal Utilities) and Melanie Krause (Menasha Utilities) to three-year terms on the organization’s 11-member Executive Committee.

President Trump on Oct. 24 named Laura Swett Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to initiate rulemaking procedures and consider an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking presenting potential reforms to ensure the timely and orderly interconnection of large loads to the transmission system.

The Kansas City Board of Public Utilities has initiated formal transmission studies with the Southwest Power Pool for two potential energy projects. Both proposals aim to strengthen long-term system resiliency and affordability in Wyandotte County, Kansas. The first proposal would add utility-scale

A new partnership is officially underway between the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and The Energy Authority (TEA), with parallel operations beginning on October 15, 2025.