PRESS RELEASE
5/6/2020
The City of Dighton partners with Kansas Municipal Energy Agency The City of Dighton is one of 118 Kansas communities who owns and operates their own electric utility. The City started the utility back in 1918 to power the city with lights. As with the other municipal systems in Kansas, the City reaps the benefits of a city-owned electric utility, including non-profit operations, local control through the City Council, low cost structure and customer-focused service. For the first 80+ years, the City operated and maintained its electric system with its own personnel. The last couple decades, the maintenance of the system was managed by Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative through a contract with the City.
After much discussion and deliberation, Dighton’s City Council decided to partner with Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA) to provide maintenance of the city’s electric system. “Change can be a good thing for everyone”, according to Mayor Doyle Capra. He explained “the City has been considering doing something different for quite some time and the KMEA proposal seemed to be a good fit for our community. This allows us to take more control of what happens within our utility.”
Paul Mahlberg, General Manager for KMEA explained “KMEA is a Joint Action Agency in the State of Kansas and exists to support our member communities. Dighton has been a member of our agency since 2011 and we are pleased to expand into the line maintenance service for the City.“
KMEA began providing maintenance of the city’s electric system May 1, 2020, but due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, KMEA’s ability to have its line crew in place has been delayed until May 26th. In the meantime, other KMEA member cities have stepped up and are supporting the City of Dighton with equipment and crews. During the month of May you will be seeing electric equipment and staff from the cities of Garden City, Russell, and Colby. “This is just another example of the benefits of municipal systems – we are all here to support each other to make public power the best it can be,” said Mr. Mahlberg. “We look forward to serving the City of Dighton for years to come and plan to provide a highlevel service to the community.”
If you are having power issues, please call (620) 397-5111.