Public Power Current

Public power utilities across the U.S. are planning a wide range of activities to celebrate this year’s Public Power Week, which is October 5-11. Those activities include, among other things, spotlighting the voices of customers on social media, holding cookouts and providing power plant tours.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced $16 million in state funds to support the development of New York’s clean energy workforce.

With the right strategies, data centers can transition from being passive loads to dynamic resources that actively support the grid, a recent GridBeyond white paper says.

A project involving the American Public Power Association, a group of APPA members and the Argonne National Laboratory focused on wildfire risk mitigation has resulted in new resources that can be utilized by the public power community.

For water and electric utilities, it is critical to communicate with customers about potential leaks, rate changes and outages. Speed and clarity are essential to ensuring water is not wasted and customers know about outages. This boosts customer satisfaction. The use of texting by the City of Bryan, Texas, and Bryan Texas Utilities has yielded a wide range of benefits.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has named Matt Rasmussen as its new Chief Nuclear Officer, succeeding Tim Rausch, who is retiring after a distinguished 40-year career in the nuclear industry.

Guidance relating to the Tax Code section 45U existing nuclear tax credit and to Tax Code sections 7701(a)(51) and (52) regarding prohibited foreign entity and material assistance restrictions for energy tax credits were among the 105 projects listed in the U.S. Department of Treasury “2025-2026 Priority Guidance Plan” released Sept. 30.

With none of 12 annual appropriations bills signed into law and discussions of a stopgap spending bill at a stalemate, some federal offices will have closed starting Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.