Greenville Utilities Commission is a Public Utility. Chartered by the North Carolina Legislature in 1905, GUC provides electric, water, sewer, and natural gas services for Greenville and a large, growing portion of Pitt County. Governed by a Board of Commissioners appointed by elected officials, GUC is a community-owned utility.
To be owned by the community means local control where decisions are made by people who live in this community (all GUC Commissioners are GUC customers). It means keeping rates low as compared to profit-driven, investor-owned companies, and reinvesting in the utility systems to provide high reliability. It also means investing in the community by providing local jobs; supporting job growth and economic development; and partnering with the local communities through events, school, career and STEM fairs, and initiatives that align with our mission.
Electric
GUC is a member of the N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA), an agency consisting of 32 cities and towns in Eastern North Carolina. GUC purchases electricity through NCEMPA.
Purchasing power in this way keeps electric rates competitive for our customers.
GUC’s electric rate is well-below the local investor-owned electric providers and the national average. In fact, GUC has the lowest rates of all the electric providers in Pitt County.
Greenville Utilities also reinvests in our grid infrastructure to ensure service reliability. That means our customers experience less than half as many outages as those served by the local investor-owned utilities. When we do have an outage, we’re restoring more than 30 minutes faster than them as well.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is the fuel of choice for many people for heating homes and water, cooking and baking, and drying clothes.
GUC looks out for our gas customers by purchasing a large amount of our gas at a discount through contracts. We operate a liquified natural gas (LNG) facility so that we can purchase gas when costs are low and store it for use when demand is high and the price spikes. We even operate the only community-owned compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station east of I-95, offering our customers a low-cost alternative to diesel and gasoline that saves them money while benefiting the environment.
By purchasing gas at discount rates and utilizing our LNG facility, GUC saves our customers money.
Water
GUC provides award-winning, high-quality water to the Greater Greenville area, which is crucial to our public health. Our Water Treatment Plant treats about 15 million gallons of water from the Tar River each day to become potable water.
GUC’s highly trained, state-certified Water Treatment Plant staff continuously monitor the treatment process to ensure our water consistently meets higher standards than state and federal regulatory requirements. We also have highly-skilled crews that maintain the distribution system of ground storage and elevated water tanks as well as more than 700 miles of mains to ensure our high-quality water reaches customers in top condition.
Our Water Resources Department is regularly honored with state and national recognitions and awards. Several awards are for water quality goals which are more stringent than EPA drinking water regulations. You can read more about these and other awards in the Awards section of our website.
GUC’s water system has the capacity to supply up to 32 million gallons per day (MGD), with a current average demand of about 15 MGD. That makes our system ready to serve the growth of the Greenville region well into the future.
GUC also provides wholesale service to other communities in the region. Water is sold “off system” to Farmville, Winterville, Greene County, and Stokes Regional Water Corporationserving GUC customers and helping our neighbors around the region.
Wastewater
GUC’s Wastewater Treatment Plant removes debris, solid material, and pollutants from the wastewater entering the plant and releases the water into the Tar River in better condition than the water already in the river.
GUC’s state of the art Wastewater Treatment Plant facility has the capacity to treat 17.5 million gallons per day (MGD) and treats an average of 11.18 MGD (which adds up to more than 4.08 billion gallons a year).
The Plant produces a stream of highly treated water (effluent) that meets 95% of drinking water standards and is cleaner than the raw water taken from the river at the Water Treatment Plant. Find out more about the wastewater treatment process.
GUC’s highly qualified Water Resources and Wastewater Treatment Plant teams also work with industrial customers to identify the most effective methods for waste minimization and water usage, helping them improve production efficiency and maximize cost savings.