Paris, TN –Paris BPU will be holding special events this week for everyone that celebrate Public Utilities Week. The events will include a kids’ drive-thru event Wednesday, a community cook-out on Thursday and an ongoing community canned food drive along with Commercial Bank & Trust.
This year’s events will include a community cookout that will take place Thursday, October 7, from 11 am -1 pm in the Paris BPU employee parking lot, located behind the main office on East Wood St., Wednesday, October 6, Paris BPU will partner with Commercial Bank, as well as TVA and Tennessee 811 for a Drive-Thru Kids Event from 3 pm – 5:30 pm in front of the main office. Additionally, in collaboration with Commercial Bank & Trust as well as the community, Paris BPU will once again be holding a community canned food drive throughout the week with Paris BPU and Commercial Bank both matching community donations. Cans may be placed in the marked Paris BPU truck located downtown in the Paris BPU/Commercial Bank, employee parking lot.
Additional activities throughout the week include a coloring contest for local elementary students, employee day of service and more! Also, be sure to check Paris BPU’s social media pages for fun facts and information about public utilities throughout the week.
Each year during the first full week of October, public utilities across the country celebrate Public Power Week to bring awareness to the advantages of having a public power provider. However locally, BPU has rebranded it as Public Utilities Week since Paris BPU provides more than just Public Power- Paris BPU also provides city residents with Water and Wastewater services.
You may be asking yourself, why does it matter that Paris BPU is a “public utility?” One of the major advantages of a public utility compared to an investor owned utility is that they are not-for-profit. This means Paris BPU can set their rates lower than most investor owned utilities because they set rates to recover costs and reinvest in their systems, not to pay investors. Additionally, public utilities typically have fewer outages. With public utilities like Paris BPU, there are also local men and women, people you know, working to get your utilities restored, meaning in the event of an interruption of service, restoration time is faster.
“We are proud to be a public utility provider,” said Paris BPU President & CEO, Terry Wimberley. “Public utilities like Paris BPU, put the community first, and Public Utilities Week gives us the chance to celebrate our customers and our community while also emphasizing the advantages of having public utilities in Paris and Henry County. Our service is reliable and safe, and we take pride in serving our friends and neighbors.
Because of impacts of COIVD-19 last year, Paris BPU took a different approach to the week than years past and even introduced some new activities.
Photo: Carl Ray Williams of BPU beneath a sign proclaiming Public Power Week in downtown Paris in 2018. (Shannon McFarlin photo).