Electric

The Milford Municipal Electric Light and Power Plant and Distribution System was authorized by the voters on February 1, 1934. An election held on February 14th, 1935 placed the management and control of the Electrical system in the hands of the Board of Trustees. The original board had three members. In July of 1996 the Board was increased to five members.

Western Area Power Administration

In 1962 Milford Municipal Utilities joined with other cities and utilities to purchase power from The Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). WAPA markets and delivers reliable, renewable, cost-based hydroelectric power and related services within a 15-state region of the central and western U.S. Milford has an energy allotment from WAPA. Six of the NIMECA members receive a combined 31 MW of hydropower from the Upper Great Plains Division of WAPA.

NIMECA

In 1965 Milford Municipal Utilities joined North Iowa Municipal Electric Cooperative Association. The North Iowa Municipal Electric Cooperative Association (NIMECA), with headquarters in Humboldt, Iowa, is a municipal joint action agency serving 13 municipal electric utilities located in the State of Iowa. NIMECA was organized in 1965 to provide the most efficient and economical power available to its consumer-owned members. NIMECA serves as the agent for its members for the coordination of power supply, planning adequate power sources and delivery of such power. NIMECA members own various sources of power and being a member of the group allows us to buy and sell any excess to members before going out to the open market with a goal of stabilizing prices for the members.

George Neal #4 Generating Station

In May of 1965 the Milford Municipal Utility Board of Trustees voted to purchase .00347 percent of the Neal #4 Generating Station. George Neal Energy Center Unit 4 is a 644 MW coal-fueled generating facility located south of Sioux City, Iowa. Collectively, NIMECA members own a total of 41 MW of the plant and commit their shares to the NIMECA capacity sharing resource pool. The plant, which came online in 1979, is majority owned and operated by MidAmerican Energy.

Local Generation

Milford Municipal Utilities owns five diesel generators with a combined capacity of 7 MW. These generators are currently used for stand-by, emergency generation due to costs to run them. However, as a part of the NIMECA group, we receive a capacity payment for having this generation capacity. Three of these generators were recently upgraded with catalytic converters to meet EPA emission standards which will allow us to continue to receive these payments.

Common Transmission System

Milford Municipal Utilities is a joint owner in a Common Transmission System which is maintained and operated by Corn Belt Power Cooperative. The 69 kV transmission lines coming into town to our substation from the south and east are a part of this system. The south line was recently constructed and the east line was rebuilt at the same time. This gives the City of Milford a redundant power supply in the event of an outage. Approximately 96% of the costs were reimbursed by the owners of the CTS.