The Electric Operations section serves approximately 12,400 residential, commercial and industrial customers connected to approximately 4,500 transformers, served by 450 miles of primary distribution lines supported by approximately 12,000 poles. The City owns and operates 19 miles of 115 kV transmission lines that serves 8 distribution substations. The section also maintains 2,100 street lights for the City of Kinston and employs 23 employees that operate and maintain the electric system.

Public Power Benefits

The foregoing is the definable, quantitative parts of the City's electric business. What are the nonquantitative benefits of public power? On a level playing field, that is a competitive market without stranded costs, public power has historically been able to deliver power to its customers at lower rates than investor owned utilities. Public power is more responsive to the public than its IOU competitors; after all, the public owns the utility, not a group of stockholders scattered across the world.

Response Time

The response times for our crews consistently average 25 minutes. The City of Kinston's Average Availability Index (AAI) for 2005 was 99.992%. During recent hurricanes, our crews restored service to our customers within 3e days compared to the local IOU restoration time of 9 - 12 days for some storms.

Public Service

What about public service? Our employees are part of the community in which they work. They are volunteer firemen, little league coaches, scout troop leaders and soccer moms. In addition to the volunteer hours away from the job. Our employees respond to request to hang banners, flags and Christmas decorations for various community organizations while on the job. Whether it is installing a pole for a radio antenna for the National Guard or other auxiliary services, our employees strive to deliver excellent service on a daily basis.