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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Paul McAlexander, City Manager, 287-3576
Pawhuska Recertified in CUP Program
During the City of Pawhuska’s City Council meeting on January 22nd, Mayor Roger Taylor was presented with a $20,000 check by Palma Lough, OMPA Energy Services Specialist, on behalf of the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority’s (OMPA) Board of Directors, recertifying Pawhuska Public Works Authority as a Competitive Utility.
OMPA’s Competitive Utility Program (CUP) is a voluntary program, started in 1995, that provides the 39 member cities with a way to evaluate and improve the operation of their electric utilities, and make them better able to compete in the electric utility industry. This program provides two types of reward – recognition in the form of certification, and financial rewards, which includes the check for $20,000.
“For the citizens of Pawhuska, CUP certification means that your community-owned electric utility is committed to excellence in its operation and delivery of safe, reliable and competitively priced electricity. The Pawhuska Public Works Authority is here to be of service and help to all of its consumers,” said Paul McAlexander, Pawhuska City Manager.
The Authority is an organization that was created by Pawhuska and other cities that owned and operated their municipal electric systems in 1981. After experiencing several years of wholesale power increases, 26 municipal electric systems, including Pawhuska, banded together to aggregate their power supply needs, and the Oklahoma legislature authorized the formation of OMPA. As a joint-action agency, OMPA was created for the purpose of providing an adequate, reliable and affordable supply of electrical power and energy to Oklahoma’s municipally owned electric systems. Membership in OMPA has grown to 39 cities and towns in Oklahoma.
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