Electric Utility

About the Electric Utility

The St. Charles Municipal Electric Utility began in 1892, when the City Council unanimously approved a payment to Phillip Harvey of $520 for preliminary work on a lighting plant that would establish a City electric utility with capacity to power 1,500 incandescent lights. Soon after, the entire male population of St. Charles (272) voted by a 2/3 majority to approve the plan and invest $20,000 in the building and steam generator.

This Electric Utility has grown to serve over 15,500 customers with an all time peak of 130 megawatts. The City has a long term power purchase agreement with the Illinois Municipal Electric Association (IMEA) that is in force until 2035. ComEd delivers power at 34,500 volts to the City's 9 substations the City then transforms it to our primary distribution voltage of 12,470 volts for distribution to step-down transformers supplying customer meters.

The Electric Utility is staffed by full- and part-time employees in several operation groups that provide specialized services, including:

• An electric administration staff that handles the administrative functions such as personnel, budgeting, power purchases, rate design, interdepartmental cooperation, city wide goal setting and participation on city committees.
• The electric engineering group, responsible for system design, maintenance programs, system mapping, and adherence to codes and standards.
• An electric line area that constructs and maintains the electric infrastructure.
• The electric metering area that installs and maintains the metering equipment.
• A telecommunications group is responsible for the installation, operation and maintenance of the City owned telecommunications infrastructure.

Contact for Electric Outages
24 Hour Number - (866) 444-0016