History of Public Power in North Carolina

PUBLIC POWER WEEK 2007: History  |  Resources |  Promotional Items

Lighting Their Own Way

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, electricity was slowly making its way to North Carolina’s cities and towns. Often electricity was brought into the area by the city and used primarily to power streetlights to brighten the downtown after dark. Generation was produced by coal-fired generators and was produced only during the evening and night hours.

The City of Statesville created the first municipally-owned electric utility when it began providing service in 1889.

As demand for lighting grew, electricity was brought into citizen’s homes. Soon after, new appliances, such as the sewing machine, clothes washer and refrigerator, were invented to simplify daily chores. Additionally, industry was becoming modernized and industrial demand for electricity was growing swiftly. Cities began to see their electric load grow by leaps and bounds.

What started as a novelty was becoming a full-fledged utility service. During the early 1900’s, North Carolina cities were growing quickly. Areas that were little more than a crossroads developed into towns, with citizens who needed electric service. North Carolina’s investor-owned utilities were sometimes unwilling to invest in infrastructure to run power lines to outlying areas, so North Carolina’s cities and towns stepped in and began to invest in electric transmission to serve North Carolina citizens.

At this time, public power purchased distribution from investor-owned utilities and distributed that power to their customers. In the 1960’s, public power communities joined together to form an organization now known as ElectriCities. Shortly after, in the mid-1970s, public power cities began to pursue the possibility of building their own electric generation, which the legislature gave them permission to do in 1975 and 1977. Throughout the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, NC’s two municipal power agencies entered into agreements to own shares of generating units.

Public Power Today

Today, there are over 70 public power communities across the state, serving 535,000 North Carolinians. Fifty-one cities are members of two municipal power agencies: North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 (NCMPA1), serving piedmont and western North Carolina; and North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA), serving eastern North Carolina. The remaining public power communities are independent distributors of electricity that buy their power wholesale and transmit it to their customers.

North Carolina’s public power communities continue to be strong and vibrant areas in which to work and live. Public power customers benefit from utility policy established by local officials who live and work in their community. That local control, joined with local operation, benefits the community by allowing electric revenue to stay in the community and enabling public power cities to grow and prosper.