The City of West Plains is celebrating Public Power Week, Oct. 3-9, along with 78 hometown electric utility members of the Missouri Public Utility Alliance and more than 2,000 other community-powered, not-for-profit electric utilities that collectively provide electricity to 49 million Americans.
“This year, we especially celebrate the employees of the City of West Plains, the people behind public power,” said Public Works Director Jeff Hanshaw. “These individuals work tirelessly to keep our community up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We pull together with a common goal: keeping West Plains powered.”
Hanshaw said the City’s Electric Department employees take pride in serving their friends and neighbors with their essential power needs. The Electric Department has 12 employees and owns/maintains 176 miles of power lines which serve approximately 6,500 residential and 850 commercial and industrial customers. The City of West Plains also is currently in the process of building the largest municipally-owned solar farm in Missouri.
Public Power Week is an annual national event coordinated by the American Public Power Association. The American Public Power Association is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.
