Public Power At Work
Public Power at Work-Investing in the City of Fayetteville
In addition to the benefits of local leadership, greater reliability and faster response, PWC provides a significant financial benefit to our community. Annually, PWC has over a $100 million impact on our local economy; providing local jobs and purchasing local goods and services, while making contributions to the City of Fayetteville to support the General Fund. In 2022, PWC contributed more than $24 million of dollars to support the city’s general fund including a payment in lieu of taxes ($12.4 million), streetlight services ($3.9 million), annual annexation construction costs ($5.9 million).
As a Public Power community, Fayetteville benefits from having its own local municipal electric system. Here’s how…
PWC Employees Serving the Community
Our community benefits from PWC’s 600+ employees who give back to the community where they live and work in a variety of ways. PWC employees were proud to support this year’s United Way of Cumberland County’s annual Day of Caring which featured the United Way holding a supply drive for its partner agencies and hosting a successful blood drive with the American Red Cross. The United Way of Cumberland County personally thanked Fayetteville PWC for their support and overall willingness to help.
PWC Wins State-wide Awards for Excellence Fayetteville
PWC provides the benefits of local leadership, greater reliability and faster response and puts our customers and community first because we operate for benefit of our community, not shareholders. PWC recently received four Public Power Awards, given by Electricities of North Carolina Inc., honoring public power communities across the state for outstanding performance. PWC was awarded the following Public Power Awards of Excellence:
- Grid Modernization – focuses on promoting investment in public power communities’ electric distribution systems and in technology to ensure safety and reliability, as well as exceeding customer expectations.
- Continuous Improvement – recognizes cities and towns that constantly review and enhance all aspects of public power while focusing on cost reduction and increased efficiencies in current and future operations.
- Workforce Development – honors communities that promote a workforce plan to attract, develop and retain the necessary human talent to provide safe, reliable power and lead public power forward.
- Value of Public Power – highlights communities that communicate the value of electric system ownership to key stakeholders
Public Power At Work- PWC Employees Earn Spirit of NC Award for Community Support
As a Public Power Provider, we take pride in providing reliable services to our customers. Our employees live and work here and we want the best for our community. Fayetteville PWC received state recognition for their support of the United Way when selected as a winner of the Spirit of North Carolina Award. The award provides statewide recognition for outstanding commitment and support to communities through local United Way involvement. This is PWC’s 17th Spirit of North Carolina Award. In 2022, employees raised $131,897 for United Way of Cumberland County and more than $2.3 million since 1997. In 2023, 20 employees helped pack 35,000 Meals of Hope during United Way of Cumberland County Campaign Kickoff.
Public Power at Work- High Reliability and Fast Response
Across the U.S., Public Power traditionally has higher reliability and faster response times when emergencies happen. PWC has been recognized by the American Public Power Association (APPA) as a Diamond Level Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3). The award recognizes APPA member utilities that achieve excellence in the areas of reliability, safety, training and system improvement. For our customers, that means we have fewer outages and shorter outages when they do occur. Because all of our operations are focused right here, we can provide the fastest possible response times. This is especially important during storm outages or other emergencies, as our crews are local and always ready to respond. As a Public Power community, we also benefit from the support of hundreds of fellow-municipal electric providers. Crews from our neighboring towns and states stand ready to assist when emergencies happen, and we are proud to return the favor. In the summer of 2023, 10 lineworkers from PWC volunteered in the Light Up Navajo program to help build electric infrastructure in an area where there are thousands of families whose homes have never had electricity.
Public Power at Work- Lower Rates
Across the U.S., Public Power rates are traditionally lower than Investor-owned utilities and PWC electric rates are the lowest in the Fayetteville/ Cumberland County area. In May, 2020, PWC reduced electric Time-of-Use rates for residential, small and medium power customers by 4.7%. Off-Peak electric rate per kilowatt hour was decreased from 9.1 cents to 8.4 cents and apply 148 hours or 88% during an average week (non-holiday). The rate reduction came as a result of a contract re-negotiation with Duke Energy which provided PWC customers $33 million in savings. While the changes did not begin until January 2021, providing the savings to customers was of the utmost importance to the PWC Board. As a result, the rate decrease began in May, 2020 and customers began saving nine months sooner. “This rate decrease puts real value on what it means to our community having PWC as its hometown utility,” said Evelyn Shaw, PWC Chair at the time of the action. “PWC is not-for-profit and we are able to take the savings of the new contract and give it back to rate payers, instead of shareholders. It’s one of many ways we benefit our community and demonstrates our commitment as the hometown utility.” With new contract terms, PWC expects to save $313 million (net present value savings) through 2042, including the $33 million savings prior to 2024 when the terms of the current agreement end.
