2015 Annual Report

As a public power utility, Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant is only one of more than 2,000 unique community-owned electric utilities that are operated by local governments. Public power utilities serve more than 48 million people or about 14% of the nation's electricity consumers.

The mantra for public power is a simple one - WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER.

As a public power utility, Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant is literally owned by the customers in its service area. Unlike investor-owned utilities who work solely for the shareholders who have a stake in the company, TMLP works only for its owners - the ratepayers. You can say that we're invested in the communities we serve.

TMLP's investment in the communities is further evidenced by the important role the utility plays as a neighbor, an employer and as an electric and Internet service provider. TMLP employees are deeply rooted in the communities. They not only work for TMLP, the majority are also customers who live in Taunton, Berkley or Raynham, or in the portions of Bridgewater, Dighton and Lakeville that we serve. They rely on us to keep them warm or cool, and keep their lights and Internet working.

TMLP staff members are true partners with the community, not only as employees, but as mentors, coaches, volunteers and Board members. They shop locally, they use community resources and they take great pride in the work they do on behalf of all customers.

We strive to be a valuable resource. Since we are a locally-owned power utility, TMLP customers fared significantly better during the record-breaking winter of 2015 than their neighbors who receive their electricity from investor-owned private utilities. Because our staff only work for TMLP, and because we have been proactive all year with tree-trimming and preventative maintenance programs, TMLP weather-related outages were significantly less in number and duration.

As we look to a bright future at TMLP, we thank the people who envisioned public power in the late 1800s and all that it would become. We thank the men and women of Taunton who made the bold move to embrace public power in 1897, more than 118 years ago. We thank not only the men and women of TMLP who are leading us into the future, but also thank our customers whose patronage and support have guided - and are still leading - us along the path to a bright future.