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Benefits of public power Communities that formed their own electric systems soon came to recognize the benefits that are still the strength of public power: not-for-profit rates, local control, and responsiveness to community needs. Not-for-profit rates means that your electricity price includes only the costs of producing and delivering power to you. Investor-owned utility rates are set to include profits paid to people who hold stock in the company. The result is that, on average in the United States, public power has the lowest rates of the three segments of the electric utility industry. Since the electric system is locally controlled, decisions about policies such as rates are made by people who are in touch with local concerns. The city council sets policies for many utilities, while other utilities have a separately elected or appointed utility board that governs utility policies. Decisions of large, investor-owned utilities are often made by people hundreds of miles away. Local control helps ensure that the utility responds to community needs. Since public power utilities are community based, utility revenues stay close to home. This helps keep the local economy strong. And utility policies promote business participation and investment in the community. — Taken from "Getting to Know Public Power" published by the National Energy Foundation (1996). |
