Sikeston BMU announces energy planning process; open house event is Wednesday, June 14

SIKESTON — The Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities, or SBMU, announced Thursday it is initiating a review of the community’s future energy needs and the best way to meet them.

An open house is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 14 at the Clinton Building, 501 Campanella Drive, in Sikeston. The open house will present information regarding the opportunities and challenges the utility is confronting, the process the utility will be using — an Integrated Resource Plan — to evaluate them and allow the public to ask questions.

The process SBMU is using will help the utility understand options and which ones are best able to provide rate stability, energy reliability, the ability to serve current and future electrical loads, the use of technology options for customer benefit and maintaining SBMU’s ability to provide future benefits for the community through the supply of power.

In initiating the effort, SBMU Board Chairman Jon Gilmore said the Board knows how important low-cost, reliable power is to the community.

“Our rate payers, businesses and employers, and our neighbors have all benefited from the investment our community decided to make nearly 50 years ago,” Gilmore said. “We owe it to our community to look forward, do the analysis, and consider the best options to continue to support low-cost, reliable electricity for the community.”

The Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities is a city-owned utility that provides electricity, water, and sanitary sewer services within the city. The utility owns and operates the Sikeston Power Station, a 235-megawatt coal-fired electricity generating facility which began operations in 1981.

“The City is committed to a process that involves our community, considers all the options, focuses on keeping rates low and electricity reliable and supports jobs,” Sikeston Mayor Greg Turnbow said.

An initial draft analysis is anticipated late 2023.