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November 3, 2021 / bpub / Comments Off on Celebrating local power

Celebrating local power

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Each October brings not just the return of cooler weather and Halloween decorations; it also brings Public Power Month at BPUB. October is a time when BPUB celebrates being one of 72 municipally-owned electric utility providers in Texas and one of the 950 in the United States.

What makes public power different?

Your voice heard – Municipally owned utilities (MOUs) give the customers it serves a representative voice on how the utility is run. At BPUB, decisions are made by a board composed of BPUB customers appointed by the city commissioners that Brownsville voters put into office. In addition, BPUB also has PUBCAP, an advisory panel of local customers that provides an open forum for discussing projects and any service-related issues.

Competitive rates – Unlike privately owned utilities, BPUB and other MOUs are nonprofits. That means BPUB is not solely driven by the bottom line. Money brought in through rates goes back into the utility for maintenance, continued operation and improvements.

Local response – Another big advantage of public power is the local response whenever there is an outage or other service-related issue. BPUB crew members live right alongside their customers. They are your neighbors, family and friends. That means there is extra incentive for rapid response when there is an outage, and that response from BPUB is ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

As part of BPUB’s celebration of Public Power Month, BPUB once again partnered with local HEB locations to give away free LED light bulbs. There were 7,500 bulbs given out at the four Brownsville stores.

In addition, BPUB once again held its annual community tour of the electrical system. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the community tour was held online for the second time. Professionals from several different areas within the electrical utility shared what they do with attendees. Not able to make it? Don’t worry. Keep watch on BPUB’s YouTube channel for an upload of the event.

But don’t forget that BPUB is here for its customers any month of the year. Make sure to follow BPUB on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news, conservation tips and outage information.