What is “public power”?
Public power is electric service that comes from a community-owned utility or member-owned cooperative. In Central Texas, many rural and suburban areas receive electricity through cooperatives, which were formed in the late 1930s to provide electric power in areas where large electric companies did not want to serve. Many municipalities also offer electric power in their communities. Public power providers traditionally offer lower rates than investor-owned utilities, which must earn profits for the shareholders who own stock in their companies. The communities served by public power entities are their shareholders.
Public power utilities are owned by the community which they serve. There are over 2,000 community-owned electric utilities in the United States, serving over 44 million people or about 14 percent of the nation’s electricity consumers. Public power utilities are operated by local governments to provide communities with reliable, responsive, not-for-profit electric service. Public power utilities are directly accountable to the people they serve through local elected or appointed officials.
