Tuesday was the 120th anniversary of the creation of the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, the city-owned utility that provides electrical, water and sewer service to much of Fayetteville and the surrounding area.
Now the PWC is the largest public power agency in North Carolina, and the 36th largest in the United States, said Tim Bryant, the PWC’s CEO and general manager.
The PWC marked the anniversary with a private celebration for its employees on Thursday.
“This milestone represents 120 years of service, 120 years of investment, and 120 years of being part of this vibrant community,” Bryant said in an email to CityView. “We are proud of our history and the good work we have done here in the Greater Fayetteville region. But we are just as excited about what is to come in the next 120 years.”
Wooden waterlines, troubled private providers
The North Carolina General Assembly passed a law on March 5, 1905, that created the PWC. Before that, a few private power companies operated in Fayetteville, according to the PWC, old newspapers and a business directory from 1896.
Water service in Fayetteville dates back to before the Civil War, the PWC says, when some water lines were made from wooden logs with holes drilled down the center. It says Fayetteville’s first sanitary sewer lines were installed in 1906.
The city granted a franchise to the Fayetteville Water, Light and Power Co. in 1892 to provide utility services, with the agreement that the city could take ownership of its assets after 10 years, The Fayetteville Observer reported.
And in 1900 the city built its own electricity plant, the PWC says. When the plant went online in December 1902, there was a great celebration as the city had gone without electric lights for nine years, The Fayetteville Observer reported in early 1903.
By the end of 1904, the city’s generation plant couldn’t produce enough electricity for Fayetteville’s growing demand, the PWC says. So the city began purchasing electricity from power companies.
Now the PWC buys most of its power from Duke Energy. The PWC generates some power for Duke at the natural gas powered Butler-Warner Generation Plant, which the PWC built in the 1970s. Since 2019, the PWC has generated power for itself from a solar farm and it has several more under construction.
Customers benefit from the fact that the PWC is part of the city, and not owned by a private entity or investors, Bryant said.
“Decisions are made locally by community representatives who are directly accountable to the residents,” he said. “Our leaders and decision-makers are also our customers, and their decisions impact them equally. The benefits of a public utility are many, but the biggest would be that all ‘profits’ are reinvested in the utility and our community instead of going to shareholders or paying a dividend. This investment means a more reliable service for our customers.”
Some PWC history and facts
- Established 1905
- Installed Fayetteville’s first sanitary sewer lines in 1906
- The Butler-Warner power plant opened in 1976. It sells 1.9 million megawatt hours of electricity to Duke Energy
- PWC’s first solar farm opened in 2019. Solar generates 3.3 megawatts
- Over 225,000 customers
- Treats 10.8 billion gallons of drinking water annually
- Treats 9.2 billion gallons of wastewater annually
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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