General Utility Information

• BPU celebrated 100 years of service to Wyandotte County in 2009, currently serving 65,000 electric and 51,000 water customers.
• BPU’s mission is to focus on the needs of its customers, to improve the quality of life in the community while promoting safe, reliable and sustainable utilities.
• BPU is a publicly-owned administrative agency of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, and is self-governed by an elected six-member board of directors.
• The Utility serves 127.5 square miles of Wyandotte County. Electric services are provided within the Kansas City, Kansas (KCK), area and water is supplied to KCK, as well as portions of suburban Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Johnson counties.
• BPU takes 15,000 walk-in transactions a month (750 a day) in its customer service lobby, and receives over 20,000 customers calls a month (1,000 a day), with less than a 2 minute wait time.
• Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) Award recipient, one of only 83 of the more than 2,000 public utility companies in the country to receive from APPA.
• One of only 7 public utilities in country to receive the “Gold” award for utility’s water system from AMWA.
• Received the Directors Award of Recognition from the Partnership for Safe Water, a national volunteer initiative developed by the Environmental protection Agency (EPA).
• BPU was voted as having the Best Tasting Water in the State of Kansas among all public water utilities.
• Bond ratings for BPU Issues are insured with a AAA credit rating from major bond-rating firms:

		Fitch, Inc.:  A+
		Standard and Poor’s:  A+
		Moody’s:  A2

Electric Utility

• The electric utility was established in late 1912.
• Facilities consist of three power stations, 29 substations and 2,992 miles of electrical lines.

		Nearman Creek Power Station – Capacity, 309 MW
		Quindaro Power Station – Capacity, 301 MW
		Kaw Power Station – Capacity, 92 MW (currently inactive)
		Kansas Renewable Purchase Power Contracts – Capacity, 73 MW which includes a 20-year purchase agreement for 25 MW of wind energy from Smoky Hills Wind Farm near Salina,
		KS and a 20 – year purchase



• power agreement for 1.8 MW with Oak Grove Land Fill Gas near Arcadia, KS
• Capacity by fuel mix: coal – 58%, fuel oil – 16%, natural gas – 15% and Kansas renewables – 11%.
• Transmission systems consist of 161 kV and 69 kV transmission lines. The 161 kV system is configured in two loops, establishing a “figure eight” over the entire service territory. Interconnection between the 161 kV and 69 kV systems is made at four locations.
• Highest peak demand was recorded on August 9, 2006, at 529 MW.
• Electrical lines interconnect to the regional grid at four Kansas City Power & Light locations and one Westar Energy location.
• The electric utility built, operates and maintains not only its own emergency radio communications system for its various service and communications functions, but also has provided the infrastructure, maintenance and support for the entire county’s Emergency Radio System.
• BPU serves, maintains and operates the UG’s street lighting system consisting of nearly 20,000 street lamps/poles.
• It is also responsible for maintaining, operating and providing electricity to the UG’s 240 signalized intersections, the fiber optic and camera-operated timing schemes, about 58 warning flasher lights near schools, and about 30 pedestrian cross-walk installations.

Water Utility

• A privately owned water system was purchased in 1909 to provide the community with quality water.
• Facilities consist of state of the art water treatment plant with 963 miles of water pipes and 6,380 hydrants.

Nearman Water Treatment Plant provides a capacity of 54 million gallons per day (MGD) from two horizontal collector wells.



• Four pump stations transfer water to four water pumping districts, delivering water through more than 96 miles of transmission mains and more than 908 miles of secondary distribution mains. Thirty-one million gallons of water are held in reserve and stored in reservoirs and elevated storage tanks throughout the city.
• Water system pressure ranges between 40 and 100 psi.
• Water distribution lines interconnect with WaterOne (Water District No. 1) in Johnson County, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Bonner Springs, Kan.

For information on BPU services, please visit www.bpu.com, or call
BPU Public Affairs Officer David Mehlhaff at (913) 573-9173.