Cherokee County has three primary electric providers that each share territory within the County boundaries.

The Board of Public Works
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Portions of Cherokee County receive electricity from The Board of Public Works. The reliability of the system has proven to be superior to local competitors due to a comprehensive preventative maintenance program and year round right-of-way maintenance program.

The Board of Public Works provides electricity to nearly 7,300 customers through approximately 130 miles of lines. Wholesale power from Piedmont Municipal Power Agency is supplied through three delivery points one of which is owned by the Board. Piedmont Municipal Power Agency is a joint action agency in which Gaffney, along with 9 other upstate cities, is a member.

The agency owns 25% of the Catawba Nuclear Plant. The pride of the Board is the service it provides. Service requests generally have a same day or next day turn around. The electrical department is able to offer comprehensive lighting packages to area businesses and industries.

The Board finances the project up front providing all equipment, maintenance, and energy for a set monthly fee. We also offer various incentives including reduced rates and special financing for customers who take measures to conserve energy. The Board is always seeking to attract new businesses and industries to our service area.

Duke Energy
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Duke Energy serves approximately 2.4 million customers across 24,000 square miles in North Carolina and South Carolina including a large section of Cherokee County. Duke’s utility rates are some of the lowest in the nation:  20% – 30% below the U.S. national average.  The Duke Energy Economic Development team is divided into three departments to better serve specific business, economic development and site selection needs:

Economic Development Team
Duke’s Economic Development professionals cover the entire 24,000 square mile service territory of Duke Energy Carolinas. Each team member has over 20 years of experience in working for Duke Energy. Whether you are a site selection consultant or company that is self performing its site selection effort, our team of experts can help you with:

• Industrial building searches and screening
• Greenfield and/or brownfield industrial site searches and screening
• Demographic and detailed community data
• Product development via our Site Readiness & Building Readiness Programs
• Preparation of RFPs (Request For Proposals)
• Custom economic development information and GIS maps
• Site visits, along with state, regional and local community meeting coordination

Business Development Team
Duke’s team of Business Development professionals covers the entire 48,000 square mile service territory of Duke Energy, which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Each team member has both national and international experience in industrial recruitment. The Business Development team specializes in:

• Targeted industrial recruitment
• Product development
• Initial/Early phase project development and coordination
• Industrial building searches and screening
• Greenfield and/or brownfield industrial site and searches and screening
• Site visits, along with state, regional and local community meeting coordination

Territorial Strategies Team
Duke’s Territorial Strategies team is specialized in assessing service territory rights within our North Carolina and South Carolina state borders. Within Duke’s service territory, one can find buildings and land designated as:

• Assigned (exclusive rights to serve designated to one utility provider)
• Unassigned (rights to serve are open to a few utility providers )
• Customer choice (several utility providers, customer selects which utility company as its service provider)

Broad River Electric Cooperative
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BROAD RIVER ELECTRIC, a 75-year old electric distribution and Touchstone Energy cooperative, is proud to be an integral part of commerce and economic development in this area. Not only do we deliver reliable electrical service at a competitive rate, but we are also an active participant in attracting and retaining local businesses and industry to the local economy. In addition to providing energy to nearly 1,000 commercial and industry accounts, Broad River has been crucial in the development of 13 industrial sites throughout Cherokee and Union County.

One of our crucial partners in these efforts is the South Carolina Power Team. The South Carolina Power Team is the economic development group for the state’s electric cooperatives –including Broad River Electric. They exist to help new industrial/distribution facilities locate in Broad River Electric’s territory.

Broad River Electric Cooperative is one of 20 member-owned electric co-ops in South Carolina. From our headquarters in Gaffney, SC, we serve Cherokee, Spartanburg, Union, and Newberry counties in South Carolina and portions of Cleveland, Polk, and Rutherford counties in North Carolina.

Founded in 1940 to meet the needs of a small number of rural residents who needed electric service, the cooperative has more than 20,000 business and residential Member-Owners and 2,348 miles of power line.

Our mission also encompasses the four Touchstone Energy values: accountability, integrity, innovation, and commitment to community. You’ll find that much of what we do—whether it’s doing business with you or doing work to better our community—have these values at their core.