Celebrating Public Power

For 125 years, Owensboro Municipal Utilities has proudly served our community, delivering quality utility services to you, our customer-owners.

In 1895, Owensboro residents had the foresight to vote to build their own electric utility. From the time that electricity first flowed on New Year’s Eve in 1900 to today, our city has significantly benefited from that decision.

A lot has changed over the past 125 years, but what remains the same is that OMU continues to be owned by you as a resident of Owensboro. OMU has always been dedicated to our customers by providing reliable, local service — affordably and safely.

Adapting to modern technology enables us to continue to improve; understanding our mission and our history helps us keep our focus on our customer-owners.

The Advantages of Public Power

Public power utilities are not for profit, community-owned, and locally controlled

As a resident of Owensboro you live in a public power community, which means you own your electric, water, and telecommunications utility. It means you benefit from affordable and reliable services, a customer-focused philosophy, and a utility that cares about the overall well-being and growth of your community.

For 125 years, OMU has provided quality and reliable utility services to our community. Being local means we are always just a phone-call away.

Local Decision Making

Decisions about your water, electric and telecommunications services are made by a local board appointed by the Mayor and City Commission. The Utility Commission is comprised of OMU customers representing you, and makes decisions in the interest of customers and our community. Utility Commission meetings are open to the public.

Locally Established Rates

As a not-for-profit utility, OMU only charges for the actual cost of providing these services to you. We don’t make a profit or pay shareholders. The City Utility Commission and the Owensboro City Commission set the rates.

In 2019 OMU announced its plans to decrease rates each year over the next five years. As part of this plan, although it was a difficult decision, we closed our coal-fired power-generating plant, the Elmer Smith Station. This enabled OMU – along with debt restructuring and other financial measures – to stabilize rates, in the best interest of customers.

Customer Oriented

As a customer-owned utility, OMU is customer oriented. We seek customer input and use that information to consider and develop policies and practices. We collect valuable feedback through monthly telephone surveys. As a result, OMU received a 95% satisfaction rating from our community last year.

More Reliable

Public power utilities deliver more reliable electric service. For providing reliable and safe electric service, OMU received the Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) Diamond designation from the American Public Power Association. This designation is the highest RP3 honor bestowed.
Invested in community

Supporting our Local Economy

Nationally, public power utilities generate more than $58 billion in annual revenue and invest more than $2 billion annually directly back into the community. Public power utilities invest this revenue back into their communities through payments in lieu of taxes, providing hometown jobs, offering free or reduced-cost electric services, and supporting local causes and charities.

Public power utilities employ people in hometown jobs. Owensboro Municipal Utilities is a major employer in Owensboro, providing 160 local jobs.

Providing City Services

Each year, OMU provides a dividend and services totaling around $11.2 million to the City of Owensboro. These services include street and traffic light maintenance, fire hydrant maintenance, and utility services for city-owned facilities.

OMU installs and maintains more than 10,000 street lights throughout our community; provides electricity and water for public facilities including local parks and fountains; installs and maintains 115 traffic signals and 33 school crossing signals throughout our service area; and provides electricity, water, and telecom services to municipal buildings in the City of Owensboro.

Invested in Community

Because we are your local utility and our employees live here, OMU is deeply involved in our community. We provide support to numerous local agencies and organizations, including United Way. As a result of our culture of serving our community, OMU employees generously donate their time, money, and expertise to local churches, non-profits, youth sports teams, and other community groups.

Focused on Safety

The safety of our community and our employees is the number one priority at OMU. Most recently we celebrated safety milestones including:

• Our production department celebrated four years without a lost time injury.
• OMU received the Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance destiny award for its safety program.
• The American Public Power Association awarded OMU the Platinum Safety Award.

Enter To Win

Complete the form for a chance to win one of five $125 OMU Certificates to celebrate the advantages of public power. Read the giveaway rules.