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How much do you know about Minnesota’s municipal utilities? Here are some facts. <br />• Open, accessible governance by its citizen owners is one reason municipals are also known as <br />"hometown" or "public power" utilities. <br />• Oversight occurs largely through the local utilities commission or city council. <br />• Municipal electric utilities serve more than 391,000 customers in 124 Minnesota communities. <br />• Over 70 percent of Minnesota's municipal electric utilities have operated for 100 years or more. <br />• Duluth is the largest of Minnesota’s 33 municipal natural gas systems, with an <br />estimated 30,000 customers. <br />• Of the 87 county seat cities in Minnesota, 50 operate municipal electric and/or <br />natural gas utilities. <br />• Most of the municipal electric power comes from power agencies, which are controlled by groups <br />of municipal utilities themselves. <br />• There are approximately 50 municipal power plants in Minnesota. They are generally used in <br />emergency situations. <br />The Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA) is a nonprofit organization representing the <br />interests of the state’s hometown utilities. There are 124 municipal electric and 33 municipal gas utilities <br />in Minnesota. MMUA also has a number of Minnesota municipal water utilities as members, and several <br />North and South Dakota municipal electric utilities are associate members. MMUA was formed in 1931 <br />and provides a wide variety of services to the utilities in the region. <br />Representing locally-owned <br />and operated organizations, <br />hometown utility policymakers <br />and staff not only have a career <br />interest in their community’s <br />success, they have a personal <br />stake in the city in which they <br />have chosen to raise their families <br />and build lifelong relationships. <br />Because of this, municipal <br />utility leaders focus only on the <br />well-being of the community. <br />It's true the utility has to <br />maintain solvency, but there is <br />no profit motive. In hometown <br />utility communities, focus on <br />maintaining a high quality of life <br />isn't a corporate slogan; it's a <br />promise to friends and neighbors. <br />226