Louisiana Energy and Power Authority

What Louisiana Energy and Power Authority does

Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA) is a public power joint-action agency created by the Louisiana State Legislature on July 20, 1979, that procures and supplies wholesale electricity to 20 member municipalities in Louisiana, 15 of which currently receive full wholesale service as Full Requirements Members. The agency's core product is wholesale electricity supply, delivered through collective purchasing agreements that pool member load to negotiate more competitive rates than individual cities could obtain independently — a model that has delivered documented cost savings of 20-25% to members such as the City of Minden. LEPA also operates an Energy Control Center (ECC) for grid coordination and maintains the LEPA Unit 1 Participants Committee, which oversees member participation in a specific generation asset, while providing mutual-aid support across member systems during emergencies such as hurricanes.

The organization is a nonprofit governmental instrumentality rather than a privately held company: it has no parent entity, no equity holders, and no venture capital or private equity involvement. Its operating model is built on recurring, consumption-based wholesale electricity revenues drawn from member utilities, with customer acquisition conducted through municipal council votes and ratification by the LEPA Board of Directors — a body where each member municipality is represented, typically by its mayor. This governance model is itself the primary distribution channel; LEPA operates without a traditional external sales force, relying instead on peer advocacy among elected municipal officials.

LEPA is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana, at 210 Venture Way, and operates entirely within the state. The team is small — three named executives lead the organization (General Manager Kevin Bihm, Assistant General Manager David Bergeron, and ECC Operations Manager Randall Reed) — reflecting the contracting and coordination nature of the agency rather than large-scale in-house generation. Between January 2025 and February 2026, Full Requirements membership expanded from 12 to 15 cities, the highest count in the agency's history, and in July 2026 a LEPA board member was elected to the American Public Power Association (APPA) Board of Directors, extending the agency's national policy footprint.

Name

Louisiana Energy and Power Authority

Legal name

Louisiana Energy and Power Authority

Website

https://lepa.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Louisiana Energy and Power Authority is a public power joint-action agency created by the Louisiana State Legislature in 1979 that supplies wholesale electricity to 20 member municipalities in Louisiana, 15 of which are Full Requirements Members receiving complete wholesale power.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wholesale Electricity Supply

NAICS

Electric Power Transmission, Control, and Distribution (22112), Electric Power Generation (22111)

SIC

Electric Services (4911)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industry

Utility-Scale Generator PPAs (Project Offtake) (EUAGADAB)

Keywords

• Wholesale electricity supply
• Public power joint-action agency
• Municipal power procurement
• Wholesale power distribution
• Electric utility services

Headquarters

HQ city

Lafayette

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Wholesale Electricity Supply: LEPA generates revenue by providing wholesale electricity to its Full Requirements Member municipalities. The organization leverages collective purchasing power to secure competitive rates and pass savings to member cities. Revenue is recurring based on electricity consumption by member utilities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

LEPA is a public power joint-action agency created by the Louisiana State Legislature on July 20, 1979, that provides stable, low-cost wholesale electricity to its 20 member municipalities through collective purchasing power. It supplies complete wholesale electricity to 15 Full Requirements Member cities, leveraging mutual aid to ensure regional reliability and a resilient power supply.

Product overview

Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA) is a public power joint-action agency that provides wholesale electricity to 20 member municipalities in Louisiana. The organization's core offering is wholesale electricity supply, with Full Requirements Member service being the primary product where LEPA serves as the exclusive wholesale electricity provider for member cities. LEPA was created by the Louisiana State Legislature on July 20, 1979, and leverages collective purchasing power and mutual aid to ensure regional reliability and stable, low-cost electricity. The LEPA Unit 1 Participants Committee manages power generation participation for certain members.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 20-25% electricity cost savings for municipalities
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• American Public Power Association (APPA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 July 2026LEPA Board Member Jeffrey Stewart, Lafayette Utilities System Director, was elected to serve a three-year term on the APPA Board of Directors representing Region 4 (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas). APPA establishes national policies and legislative agendas to protect public power systems, develops strategic initiatives addressing energy reliability, cybersecurity, and grid resiliency. LEPA General Manager Kevin Bihm noted Stewart's strategic vision and commitment to community-owned utilities will benefit APPA at the national level.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• American Municipal Power (AMP): A nonprofit joint-action agency that provides wholesale generation, transmission, and distribution services to municipal electric systems across multiple states. AMP and LEPA share the same joint-action agency model, customer type (municipal utilities), and wholesale electricity value proposition.
• MEAG Power (Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia): A joint-action agency created by Georgia municipalities to provide wholesale power and energy services. MEAG and LEPA both serve municipal utility members under a legislatively enabled collective procurement model, with generation ownership and long-term wholesale supply contracts.
• Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC): A nonprofit joint-action agency supplying wholesale power to municipal light departments in Massachusetts. Like LEPA, MMWEC aggregates municipal demand, owns/contracts generation, and provides long-term power supply to its member communities.
• New York Municipal Power Agency (NYMPA): A municipal joint-action agency in New York State that provides wholesale electricity and energy services to its member municipal electric utilities. NYMPA's structure (municipalities banding together for collective power supply) is essentially identical to LEPA's model.
• Northern California Power Agency (NCPA): A California joint-powers agency supplying wholesale electric energy and other services to municipal utilities. NCPA's generation ownership, member-driven governance, and wholesale supply role closely mirror LEPA's structure and offerings.
• Indiana Municipal Power Agency: A joint-action agency providing wholesale power and energy services to municipal electric utilities in Indiana. IMPA's full-requirements wholesale model, member-municipality governance, and generation project participation make it a structural analog to LEPA.
• WPPI Energy: A Wisconsin-based joint-action agency providing wholesale electricity, power supply planning, and related services to municipal and other publicly owned utilities. WPPI's member-driven wholesale model is directly comparable to LEPA's.

Broad incumbents

• Santee Cooper (South Carolina Public Service Authority): A state-owned public utility that generates, transmits, and distributes electricity, and also supplies wholesale power to cooperatives and municipalities. Santee Cooper is a larger, broader public-power entity in the same general category as LEPA but with retail distribution and a wider service territory.
• Nebraska Public Power District: A public power entity generating and supplying wholesale and retail electricity across Nebraska. NPPD operates at much larger scale and with full retail distribution, but shares LEPA's public-power, wholesale-supply function to communities.

Others

• American Public Power Association (APPA): The national trade association for state and community-owned public power utilities. APPA is not a competitor but a peer-relevant ecosystem organization: LEPA's board member now sits on the APPA Board, and APPA's policy, advocacy, and best-practice work directly shapes the environment LEPA operates in.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

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 Louisiana Energy and Power Authority