Since 1906, Athens Utilities has provided power and expanded its services to meet the needs of a growing community.

The department provides electricity, gas and water service covering the 607 square miles that make up Athens and Limestone County.

“Gas and electric (service) have grown a lot more, spreading out over the county,” said Athens Utilities General Manager Gary Scroggins. “There’s been a lot of growth around Ardmore and East Limestone, some in West Limestone. We’re adding more customers every day. Our water service has probably grown from around 7,500 to more than 10,000 in the last seven or eight years.”

Athens Utilities maintains 15 substations, five of which are delivery points for TVA. The system consists of over 2,000 miles of power lines 50,000 utility poles and is maintained by 67 linemen and support staff.

“The Electric department is in the middle of building a large substation,” said Scroggins. “Gas is expanding in West Limestone, with service for the new (Sugar Creek) elementary school. We’re always adding lines to pick up new customers. The economy has picked up and we’re adding a good many customers now.”

Constantly researching and planning ways to improve system quality and reliability, Athens Utilities has grown from serving a few customers around the downtown area to providing electric service for 42,220 customers, natural gas for 9,320 and water services for 11,000.

“The main thing that limits the gas is the availability,” said Scroggins. “Almost anyone with propane heat, would rather have gas heat. Most people prefer it because it’s cheap and we think more efficient.”