Public Works & Utilites Utilities Department

The City of Newberry Electric Utility was established in 1910. A City Utility Board governed the Electric Utility until sometime in the 1970's. Today this utility is governed under the City Commission with the Mayor as Department Head. Two linemen and one apprentice maintain the service territory that is approximately three square miles with a little over 1100 customers. 81% of those are residential customers and the remaining 19% comprise of commercial, industrial, city and other tax-exempt customers.
The City purchases power from Florida Municipal Power Agency. For fiscal year 2002-2003, gross revenue for the Electric Department was $2,306,553. It is anticipated that gross revenue for FY2003-2004 will be approximately $2,355,800. There are approximately 25 miles of overhead distribution and five miles of underground distribution that we maintain to serve our customers.

The City provides potable water and sanitary sewer. In urban Newberry, an average daily flow (ADF) for potable water is around 440,000 gallons per day and 160,000 gallons per day for the sanitary sewer. There are approximately 23 miles of water mains and 19 miles of sanitary sewer collection system. Three employees in these departments are responsible for providing clean and safe drinking water along with proper disposal of sanitary sewer. The City of Newberry and the Suwannee River Water Management District jointly purchased 100 acres north of town for a wellhead protection area. A new well with associated treatment plant and water mains as well as an additional 300,000 gallon elevated storage tank has been installed and is providing additional capacity for the water system. The current wastewater treatment plant operates presently at about 39% of its permitted capacity, which leaves some capacity to spare at this time. The City of Newberry and the Suwannee River Water Management District also purchased an additional 42 acres, which adjoins the south property line of the 52-acre wastewater treatment facilities to be utilized for either a sprayfield or sludge application site.