Public Power Month

This year will mark Public Power's 26th anniversary as a country-wide program to celebrate the importance of public power to local citizens and other key publics, including schools, local and state officials. As we, at Brownsville Public Utilities Board, celebrate Public Power Month during October, it is important that we highlight the qualities that set public power apart from other service providors in the electric utility industry. The most important quality is public power's business model: local ownership and control that reflects our communities' values; a strong customer focus; non-profit service; competitive cost structures; and an emphasis on safety, reliability and environmental stewardship. For the October celebration at BPUB, we are focusing on easy and affordable ways that people can conserve energy at home. We plan to reinforce this concept with presentations from Leo the Lineman, lobby and city-wide presentations by BPUB staff and contests that involve an energy-conservation art contest to Brownsville-area middle school students and a 1-minute energy conservation video contest to high school students. As the students compete for iPod prizes in various categories, we also hope to remind them and their parents about the many benefits of public power and how proud we are to be providing our friends, neighbors, and local businesses with reliable and affordable electric service.