Stillwater has been a community-owned electric utility since 1901 and has owned its own electric generation since 1903. This means that rates and policy are set by local government.
The Stillwater Electric Utility (SEU) is one of 191 of the nation’s public power utilities to earn the Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3®)—Platinum Class— a designation from the American Public Power Association for providing consumers with the highest degree of reliable and safe electric service. In 2017, as well as many years in the past, the utility has been recognized as having a 99.99 percent reliability factor, as well as received many achievement awards for major infrastructure upgrades.
Stillwater is the second largest municipal electric utility in Oklahoma as well as the largest transmission owner and electric generator
SEU has three separate power feeds from our public power provider—the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA). This triple power feed arrangement minimizes the possibility of a system-wide power outage and is sectionalized to increase reliability. The system includes state of the art relaying schemes to quickly/automatically isolate faults and sectionalize to maintain electric supply.
The electric system is designed for flexibility to meet the needs of any potential customers. Since the utility owns its own 69,000-volt transmission system and has access to GRDA’s 138,000-volt transmission system, we have an abundant supply of electricity to meet any future customer’s needs from simple residential to the largest commercial or industrial customer.
Professional Staff
Stillwater employs professional staff to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient service. The electric utility is master planned, computer modeled, and employs modern GIS mapping, outage management, and software assisted outage response crew dispatch systems.
The department manages its own transmission, electrical substations, generation, and distribution systems including environmental compliance programs, efficient appliance rebate programs, and capital improvement projects. It is comprised of three divisions which include distribution, engineering, and generation/transmission. The entire electric system is monitored 24/7 by operations staff, using state of the art computer hardware and software, to ensure it is functioning correctly and to immediately respond to issues should they arise.
The electric utility’s staff is available to find solutions to meet the unique needs of our customers.
Stillwater Energy Center
The Stillwater Energy Center (commissioned in July 2016), is owned and operated by the City of Stillwater. It has an electrical output of 56-megawatts, is one of the most efficient, clean burning, natural gas-fired simple cycle plants in the Southwest Power Pool region, and can be at full capacity in less than 10 minutes. Electric customers benefit from high-quality power, reliable, environmentally friendly, and state-of-the-art technologies that produce minimal emissions.
In an emergency, if cut off from the outside electric grid, SEU’s generation assets could provide a significant percentage of Stillwater’s electric load depending on the time of year.
Electric Utility Projects Underway
- Industrial Substation upgrade
- Substation Transformer Replacement Project (6 transformers at three substations)
- Four miles of new transmission line construction.
- Distribution Automation project
- Advanced Meter Infrastructure (smart meter) project.
- Electric Vehicle Infrastructure