The Tipton Electric Utility is one of the oldest in Iowa having been established in 1880.  A Corliss steam engine, located in the old Tipton Town Hall at 5th and Lynn Streets provided power to light the downtown business district in 1882.

The City currently purchases energy from Ameren Energy which is transmitted over transmission lines owned by Alliant Energy. This energy purchase is arranged through a joint purchase contract with other municipal utilities throughout Iowa administered through the Resale Power Group of Iowa (RPGI). The City also maintains ownership of 3.5MW (megawatts) of generation at the Louisa Generation Plant South of Muscatine and operates 5.0MW of standby and peaking generation at is facility next to City Hall.

The 20MW Tipton substation currently serves a City wide load of 7.5 MW.  Our distribution system is capable of carrying 13 MW with facilities in place to add an additional 6.5 MW when needed.

The Tipton electric distribution and substation facilities were completely rebuilt in 1997 and the utility maintains sufficient cash reserves for contingencies. Plans are currently underway to upgrade the substation from its current 34,500 volt rating to 69,000 volts when Alliant Energy plans to increase transmission voltage in 2006-7.

Electric Rates
(Rate structures are updated every April. Current rates updated April 3, 2006)

Rate Category	Winter	Summer	Type
All Residential Rates - Basic Service Charge of $6.00	$0.0822	$0.0936	E1, E2
Rural residential Rates - Basic Service Charge of $20.60	$0.0822	$0.0936	E5
Commercial Rates - Basic Service Charge of $8.00	$0.0956	$0.1072	E4
Commercial Demand - Minimum 10Kw / Demand Charge	$57.80 / $5.78	$116.40 / $11.64 per Kw	E9
Commercial Energy Charge - All kwh	$0.0436	$0.0436	E6
Industrial Demand - Minimum 100Kw / Demand Charge	$578.00 / $5.78	$1164.00 / $11.64 per Kw	E7
Industrial Energy Charge	$0.0403	$0.0403	E8
Purchased Power Adjustment (PPA) applied to all of the above electrical usage		$0.01649