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Water, electricity, natural gas, high-speed Internet and cable television services are all provided by community-owned utilities in Cedar Falls. While they are known on a combined basis as CFU, the Municipal Water, Electric, Gas and Communications Utilities are four separate enterprises. Each of the Utilities is financially independent and self-supporting through user fees. Because Cedar Falls owns its utility services, the public benefits in many ways: | Economical Rates | CFU's rates are consistently among the lowest 10% of Iowa utilities. In the most recent comparison, CFU residential customers saved more than $6.8 million per year in utility costs compared with the average of 20 peer communities in Iowa. | | Customer Focus | CFU customers enjoy easy access to help with any of our services by phone, online or in person. Our Customer Service Representatives, Energy Services Specialists and Help Desk tech support staff are all located at our office building in Cedar Falls for convenient, one-stop assistance. Both our office staff and field technicians take pride in providing prompt, courteous, expert service that is highly rated by customers in CFU's annual satisfaction survey. | | Local Control | A citizen Board of Trustees sets policy and rates for the Utilities. CFU serves Cedar Falls only, and all decisions about utility operations are made locally in the public interest. | | 24-Hour Service | In the event of an outage or emergency, local crews are dispatched quickly to assist our customers. | | Reliability | CFU's reliability performance for all utility services ranks among the highest in our industries. | | Return on Investment | CFU transfers more than $1.5 million annually to the City's general fund, reducing the local property tax burden, among other benefits to the local economy. | | Innovation | Through the Municipal Communications Utility, Cedar Falls citizens and businesses receive city-wide, economical, high-capacity access to the Internet. The Communications Utility was formed through a community referendum in 1994 to ensure that our city is second to none in communications technology, enabling local businesses to compete, prosper and grow. | | Energy Conservation | CFU's Energy Services specialists and comprehensive residential and commercial energy efficiency incentive programs are dedicated to reducing energy demand and helping customers save money by using energy more efficiently. | | Power Supply Planning | CFU owns local and off-site generating assets sufficient to economically meet the community's projected electric needs for the next 25 years. | | Renewable Energy | The Electric Utility meets part of Cedar Falls' demand with wind power, and is searching for more cost-effective sources of renewable energy. We are actively researching the use of biomass fuels as an alternative to coal in our local generating plant. CFU also facilitates interconnection for customers who install residential-scale wind turbines or solar panels. |
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