Osage's Josh Byrnes says "A lot of communities wish they had a municipal utility"

The General Manager of the Osage Municipal Utilities, former state representative Josh Byrnes, told the monthly breakfast of the Winneshiek Energy District on Tuesday that when it comes to cost control and flexibility, a municipal utility has a lot of advantages over for-profit utilities and telcom companies.

Byrnes told the group at T-Bock's "It's nice to have that independence."  The Osage Municipal Utility has a power purchase agreement through Dairyland Power Cooperative, but also has its own back-up generators and local repair crews.

The community also has a 1.5MW wind turbine and a 792kW community solar energy farm.  Starting next month, it will also have a 25-mile-long fiber trunk that will allow it to pay much less money for Internet bandwidth.  Byrnes says that will not only mean lower prices, but a number of economic development possibilities.

Adds Byrnes, "Whether your Internet quits, lights go off, or you smell gas, we have service techs on call 24/7 and ready to serve."