Guest Column: CU delivers community value via business sense, public service

My experience in regulating private utilities for the state of Missouri, as well as working for Springfield’s publicly owned utility, leads me to conclude that this community is fortunate to have the best of both.

As the largest of 88 community-owned utilities in Missouri, and one of the largest utility companies of any type in the state, CU occupies a unique place as a public organization with a keen business orientation. I can personally attest that CU is the most heavily scrutinized utility of any type in Missouri – investor-owned, rural electric cooperative or municipally owned. This scrutiny is one of the benefits to the public of local ownership.

But CU operating, by necessity, very much in both the business and public world locally, regionally and nationally, enables Springfield and CU customers to realize some of the lowest rates in the nation, high reliability and most importantly, a heightened attitude of community stewardship.

Nowhere is this stewardship more evident than in CU’s transit operations. The city charter of Springfield established CU as the owner and operator of the transit system – the only utility in the nation with such a responsibility. As noted by others, transit systems, by their very nature, must be subsidized in order to exist. The amount and source of CU’s subsidy is discussed annually as a part of a very public budget process.

The utility has taken great strides to increase ridership and maximize revenues from fares and state and federal funding. CU is operating exactly as required by the city charter and manages to deliver efficient and affordable transit service to those who either want or need to utilize public transportation.

CU employees are valuable assets that have helped formulate and execute strategies delivering low rates and excellent services to their customers. Expenditures to recognize employee safety or service milestones make good business sense – if an organization places a high priority on employee safety, loyalty and retention, as CU does.

I was dismayed that the recently released audit appears to have totally missed the importance of safety to a utility. The audit states that “safety and service awards … do not appear to be prudent, reasonable or a necessary use of utility funds.” I strongly disagree. Utility work is inherently dangerous.

Tragically, within the last few years CU lost one of its own in an electrical accident, and an employee of the Ozarks Empire Fair lost his life in a natural gas explosion. The Missouri Public Service Commission recognized the importance of safety in the early 1990s by promulgating some of the most stringent utility natural gas safety requirements in the nation. CU’s emphasis on safety is well-placed, and I commend it for the efforts it makes to remind, recognize and reward its employees on the importance of safety.

Springfield benefits from a local utility that utilizes its business expertise and sound business practices to serve the community. CU consistently delivers excellent results at the hand of its employees. Having the responsibility for present and future access to essential services is a daunting task, and one that pays employees well at utilities throughout the country. CU staff members, while well-paid, still earn less than their investor-owned, private utility counterparts.

Lastly, I believe CU is taking the audit seriously. I believe Virginia Fry, chairman of the Board of Public Utilities, when she said in her response to the audit that CU “will carefully consider each of the audit recommendations. We expect CU staff to report back to the board periodically on the progress we’ve made in responding to each of them.”

CU has announced an action plan to assess each of the recommendations in a thorough and timely way. The people at CU know that I would not have it any other way.

Kenneth McClure is a former commissioner and chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission (1990–97) and a former associate general manager at City Utilities (1997–2005).[[In-content Ad]]