Power for Progress …A weekly column from the Grand River Dam AuthorityCelebrating Public Power Week 2025

It exists in 49 of the United States, can be found in over 2,000 communities nationwide and is a time-tested means of local service that, collectively, meets the electric needs of 48 million Americans.

It is called public power, and it is alive and well in the cities and towns that own and operate their own electric distribution system. Some are large (like Los Angeles, Memphis, or San Antonio), some are much smaller, like a lot of Oklahoma communities we call home, but all have this in common when it comes to their electricity supply: local ownership, local control and local services custom-fit to meet local needs.

Each year, the American Public Power Association (APPA) recognizes the first full week of October as “National Public Power Week” and uses the occasion to promote the benefits and historic successes of publicly owned electricity utilities. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., APPA is the service organization for the nation’s community-owned electric utilities The Grand River Dam Authority, which supplies wholesale electricity to 14 Oklahoma public power communities, is also a member of APPA. 

The relationship between GRDA and its public power partners works like this: GRDA sells wholesale electricity to these communities. In turn, these cities use the municipally owned electric utility system to distribute that power to the end-user homes and businesses all across town. The revenues generated from those electricity sales are used to operate and maintain the distribution system, purchase more power from GRDA and support other city services, like streets and parks, police, and fire protection. In fact, in a typical year, GRDA’s municipal customer communities combine to return as much as $36 million to city general funds. All that is done without using tax dollars.

That is just part of the public power success story, and GRDA is proud to help share that story during Public Power Week 2025!

GRDA is Oklahoma’s largest public power electric utility; fully funded by revenues from electric and water sales instead of taxes. Each day, GRDA strives to be an “Oklahoma agency of excellence” by focusing on the 5 E’s: employees, electricity, economic development, environmental stewardship, and efficiency.

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