Owensboro Municipal Utilities

What Owensboro Municipal Utilities does

Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) is a customer-owned municipal public utility providing electricity, water, and fiber-optic internet services to the residents and businesses of Owensboro, Kentucky, and surrounding Daviess, Hancock, Ohio, McLean, and Henderson counties. Founded in 1900 and governed by the Owensboro Utility Commission and the Owensboro City Commission, OMU operates as a not-for-profit entity with no private shareholders, distributing surplus value back to the City of Owensboro through dividends and free services. The utility serves over 55,000 direct water customers in Owensboro and reaches more than 100,000 residents and businesses across its broader service area.

The company's core technology stack comprises a proprietary fiber-optic network (OMUfibernet, deployed commercially since 1997 and rolled out citywide to residential customers in 2024), an electric distribution grid monitored by a SCADA-based Control Room system, and a deep underground aquifer water supply system drawing from over 30 wells along the East 4th Street/State Route 144 corridor, treated at the 30 million-gallon-per-day Cavin Water Treatment Plant. After retiring the Elmer Smith Station coal plant in 2019-2020, OMU now procures wholesale power through a third-party supply agreement and a long-term hydropower contract with the Southeast Power Administration. Supplementary offerings include business telephone services (Hosted PBX, SIP Trunking, PRI/T1), security lighting installation, net metering for customer-owned renewable systems up to 100 kW, and EV charging infrastructure support.

OMU generates revenue entirely through recurring monthly subscription billing across its electric, water, and internet service lines, with rate cards structured by customer class (residential, commercial, general service secondary, general service primary) and consumption tiers. Pricing is regulated locally and not subject to market competition for electric and water due to the franchise-granted monopoly, while fiber internet competes with regional ISPs. Distribution is direct-to-customer via owned infrastructure, supplemented by a Customer Service Center at 2070 Tamarack Road, a 24/7 online portal (myaccount.omu.org), phone support, and a mobile app. Customer segments span residential, small/mid-sized business, enterprise, and wholesale water districts, with go-to-market executed entirely through community-owned local presence rather than sales-driven acquisition.

Name

Owensboro Municipal Utilities

Legal name

Owensboro Municipal Utilities

Website

https://omu.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1900

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Owensboro Municipal Utilities is a customer-owned municipal utility providing electricity, water, and fiber-optic internet services to over 100,000 residents and businesses across Owensboro, Kentucky and four surrounding counties, operating as a not-for-profit under local utility commission governance since 1900.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Municipal Utilities (Electric, Water, Fiber Broadband, Telecom)

NAICS

Water, Sewage and Other Systems (2213), Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (221310), Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution (2211), Utilities (221)

SIC

Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services (4900), Electric Services (4911), Water Supply (4941)

akta.pro primary industry

Multi-Utility Distribution Companies (Electric + Gas/Water Distribution) (EUADABAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Municipal Electric Utilities (Munis) (EUADABAB)

Keywords

• Municipal electric utility
• Water and wastewater services
• Fiber-optic broadband
• Utility telecommunications
• Public power distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

Owensboro

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Electric Service: Sale of electricity to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Rates include base costs, energy cost adjustment, and environmental control cost adjustment. OMU procures power through supply agreement with third party and long-term hydropower contract from Southeast Power Administration.
2. Water Service: Sale of treated water to over 55,000 residents in Owensboro and water districts serving Daviess County and surrounding counties. Customers charged monthly fee based on meter size plus per-cubic-foot usage charges.
3. Residential Internet: Fiber-to-the-home internet service delivered via OMUfibernet. Monthly subscription plans ranging from 500 Mbps to 1000 Mbps with equipment and WiFi included.
4. Business Internet: Internet service for small and mid-sized businesses with speeds from 250 Mbps to 1000 Mbps. Requires 12-month agreement.
5. Enterprise Internet: Dedicated bandwidth internet service for businesses with speeds from 10 Mbps to 2 Gbps. Includes point-to-point, dark fiber, and additional options such as hosted firewall and commercial wireless networking.
6. Security Lighting: Installation and maintenance of security lighting for properties. Customers pay monthly charge including electricity and maintenance.
7. Telephone Services: Business telephone services including premium business lines, basic lines, hosted PBX, SIP trunking, and PRI/T1. Requires enterprise or small business internet service.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) is a customer-owned municipal utility that provides electricity, water, wastewater, fiber-optic internet, and telephone services to residents and businesses across Owensboro and surrounding Kentucky counties. It operates the Cavin Water Treatment Plant (30 MGD), the OMUfibernet gigabit broadband network, and a 24/7 dispatch center for electric and water service. Founded in 1900, OMU serves more than 55,000 residents directly and roughly 100,000 residents in the broader area.

Product overview

Owensboro Municipal Utilities is a publicly-owned municipal utility providing three core services: electricity distribution, water treatment and distribution, and fiber-optic internet (residential, business, and enterprise tiers). The company also offers supplementary services including security lighting, business telephone services (Hosted PBX, SIP Trunking), and net metering programs for customer-owned renewable energy systems. All services are managed locally with rates set by the Owensboro Utility Commission, and internet services run over the utility's proprietary fiber-optic network (OMUfibernet).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• OMUfibernet: Fiber optic network operated by Owensboro Municipal Utilities for telecommunications and broadband internet services.
• Powertown

Products and services

• Electric Service Electric power generation, transmission, and distribution service to residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout Owensboro and Daviess County, including a dedicated combined heat and power facility for Toyota industrial customers.
• Water Service Treated potable water drawn from an underground aquifer and processed through the Cavin Water Treatment Plant (30 MGD capacity) for residential, commercial, and industrial customers.
• Wastewater Service Wastewater collection and treatment service for residential and commercial customers in the OMU service area.
• OMUfibernet Fiber-Optic Broadband Fiber-to-the-home broadband internet at gigabit symmetric speeds with no data caps, serving residential and business customers across Daviess, Hancock, McLean, and Ohio counties.
• Telephone Service Landline telephone service offered to residential and business customers in conjunction with the OMU telecom bundle.
• Toyota Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Facility Dedicated combined heat and power generation and supply serving the Toyota industrial site in the Owensboro service area.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cavin Water Treatment Plant capacity of 30 million gallons per day
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Southeast Power AdministrationcoreOthers · 1 January 2020Long-term contract for hydropower supply from Southeast Power Administration to meet power needs of OMU customer-owners after closure of the Elmer Smith Station coal plant.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• EPB (Electric Power Board of Chattanooga): Chattanooga's municipally-owned electric and fiber utility, offering gigabit fiber broadband alongside electric distribution — directly comparable to OMU's electric-plus-fiber model. Often cited as the gold-standard municipal fiber utility.
• Bowling Green Municipal Utilities: Kentucky-based municipal utility providing electric, water, and fiber/broadband services within Bowling Green — closely mirrors OMU's multi-utility municipal structure within the same state.
• Paducah Power System: Municipal electric utility serving Paducah, Kentucky with retail electric distribution plus fiber and broadband services — same regulatory structure and geography as OMU.
• Huntsville Utilities: Alabama municipal utility providing electric, water, and natural gas services with a fiber network — comparable multi-service municipal model to OMU.
• Cedar Falls Utilities: Iowa municipal utility offering electric, water, and fiber broadband (CFU Net) — a textbook example of a small/medium municipal utility expanding into gigabit fiber, directly comparable to OMU's OMUfibernet.
• JEA (Jacksonville Electric Authority): Large community-owned municipal utility providing electric, water, and wastewater services to Jacksonville, FL — comparable structure as a multi-service not-for-profit utility with both regulated and competitive offerings.
• Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD): California's largest customer-owned electric utility — a municipal electric-only utility at much larger scale; comparable in franchise structure and not-for-profit governance.

Broad incumbents

• Kentucky Utilities (LG&E and KU / PPL): Investor-owned electric utility serving most of Kentucky outside Louisville — competes with OMU's electric service in adjacent territories and represents the broader regulated electric utility benchmark in the region.
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): Federal corporation generating and transmitting power across the Tennessee Valley — acts as a wholesale power supplier to many municipal utilities including potentially as OMU's third-party power supplier; comparable in scale and not-for-profit mandate.

Emerging players

• Charter Communications (Spectrum): Major private ISP with cable and fiber broadband operations across Kentucky — competes or could compete with OMUfibernet in the residential broadband market and serves as the main competitive benchmark for OMU's internet pricing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/omu.org
• Instagraminstagram.com/omutilities

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Owensboro Municipal Utilities