Portland General Electric (PGE) keeps many Birkenstock-shod feet warm: The company, formerly a subsidiary of Enron, generates, purchases, and distributes electricity to about 815,750 customers in Oregon. PGE's service territory covers 52 cities, including Portland and Salem. Its hydroelectric, coal-fired, and gas-fired plants had a generating capacity of more than 2,600 MW in 2009, and it purchased another 1,920 MW of generating capacity. PGE also markets wholesale electricity and natural gas to other utilities and marketers in the western US. In keeping with the "green" image of Portland residents, PGE leads the nation in residential customers who purchase power from renewable sources.

Wahlco likes to keep it clean. It designs and manufactures air pollution control equipment, specializing in ammonia handling, flue gas conditioning, nitrogen oxide control equipment which it installs at power plants and other industrial facilities, including cement plants, oil and gas refineries, pulp and paper mills, and steel mills. Wahlco also makes products such as low-watt density heaters and specialty thermocouples for industrial applications. The company's systems and equipment can be found in more than 500 locations in more than 17 countries. Wahlco was founded by a small group of experts in 1972.

Infiltrator Systems is not connected to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, spy satellites, or any other relic of Cold War espionage. The company is the world's leading maker of plastic leachfield products used to handle commercial and residential wastewater. Infiltrator Systems' leachfield drainage chambers are a direct and cost-effective replacement for stone and pipe leachfields, and create a footprint only half the size of traditional leachfields. The products, which are made at facilities in Kentucky and Utah, are sold throughout the US. The company estimates that one in four septic systems in the US uses Infiltrator Systems' products.

Exelon Corporation company distributes electricity to 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois (including Chicago) and southeastern Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia) through subsidiaries Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and PECO Energy. PECO also distributes natural gas to 485,000 customers. Subsidiary Exelon Generation holds the company's power plants, whose production capacity is just about 25,000 MW. About two-thirds of Generation's power is nuclear. Exelon Power Team is a top wholesale energy marketer, and Exelon Energy markets retail power and offers other energy-related services.

Owensboro, Kentucky (named after Abraham Owen, a Shelby County legislator killed in the Battle of Tippecanoe) is served by Owensboro Municipal Utilities, which provides power to almost 26,000 customers and water to 24,500. The city-owned utility operates water treatment facilities and a power plant that uses coal and used tires for fuel. Its operating divisions are Elmer Smith power plant, Engineering & Operations, Water Production, and Customer Service Center. It also offers telecommunications services. Owensboro Municipal Utilities is overseen by the five-member Owensboro Utility Commission, which is appointed by the mayor of Owensboro.

Let's cut right to the point: construction materials and mining used to be the lifeblood of Knife River Corporation, but in recent years, its energy and utility operations have grown to be the largest portion of its business. Oil and natural gas production, power transmission, pipelines and power utilities now dominate Knife River's balance sheet. But don't count out its construction services division, which continues to produce record earnings. Knife River has operations in Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, California, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, and Wyoming. The company is a subsidiary of MDU Resources Group, Inc.

Cleco Corp. is an energy services company based in central Louisiana. We have been in business since 1934, and throughout our years of service, we have perfected the basics of a successful electric utility business: reasonable rates, reliable service and customer focus.Our two primary businesses are Cleco Power LLC, a regulated electric utility business serving approximately 277,000 customers in Louisiana, and Cleco Midstream Resources LLC, a wholesale energy business.Today, Cleco Power operates four power plants with 3,803 megawatts of *nameplate generating capacity and owns 2,532 megawatts of this capacity.Through Cleco Midstream Resources, our wholesale energy business, we operate one wholesale power plant with 775 megawatts of nameplate generating capacity.We use a mixture of western coal, petroleum coke (petcoke), lignite, oil, and natural gas to serve our customers. This diverse fuel mix helps Cleco deliver reliable, low-cost power to its customers. We also have access to purchased power when it's needed and when it's more cost-effective than our generation.

New York Independent System Operator (New York ISO). The company, which replaced the New York Power Pool, manages and monitors wholesale activities on the state's transmission grid, which consists of some 11,000 miles of high-voltage lines. The New York ISO is charged with providing fair access to the state's competitive wholesale power market (37,400 MW of generating capacity), while ensuring the reliable, efficient, and safe delivery of power to New York's more than 19 million residents. The not-for-profit company is governed by a 10-person board of directors.

Sunflower Electric Power is an electricity generation and transmission cooperative. The utility has interests in six fossil-fueled generation facilities (600 MW of capacity) and operates a more-than-1,150-mile transmission system with 76 substations. Sunflower Electric Power provides electricity to its owners, six member distribution cooperatives which collectively have more than 51,000 customers in western Kansas; it also indirectly serves a further 10,000 meters as wholesale power suppliers to regional cities and towns.

Lafayette Utilities System has a long and proud history of serving the people of Lafayette. We are your next door neighbors and we care about the same things you do: reasonable utility rates and reliable, quality services that can protect our families and make our community better. LUS offers its customers quality electric, water and wastewater services. Because LUS is customer-owned and operated, its customers have the power to set rates and control the standard of service. We are always working to better LUS and Lafayette.

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