SMUD

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The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) provides electricity to Sacramento County and a small portion of Placer County. It is one of the ten largest publicly owned utilities in the United States and has a worldwide reputation for innovative programs and services, especially in regard to renewable energy generation, such as wind and solar. SMUD also owned the ill-fated Rancho Seco nuclear power plant, shut down by a vote of the utility's rate-payers in the late 1980s, after years of sub-par performance. Although the nuclear plant is now decommissioned, its now-empty iconic towers remain on the site. On the SMUD-owned property in southeastern Sacramento County, solar arrays and a 500 megawatt gas-fired power plant have risen in proximity to the towers, testifying to changing of public preference in energy generation.

Created by a vote of Sacramento County residents in 1923, SMUD's ability to provide power to its customer-owners was stymied in the courts for nearly a quarter century by the investor-owned Pacific Gas & Electric Company of San Francisco. A court ruling eventually sided with SMUD, which began providing power at the beginning of 1946. Echoes of SMUD's fight to fulfill its original mandate from the voters have continued in more recent turf battles with PG&E. In the 1980s, residents of the Sacramento bedroom community of Folsom voted to join SMUD, with PG&E fighting the annexation in the courts. Folsom rate-payers are now part of SMUD. In 2006, PG&E successfully convinced SMUD rate-payers and rate-payers in Yolo County to vote down an annexation proposal that would have extended the public utility's service territory to include the Yolo County cities of West Sacramento, Davis and Woodland, along with territory between the three cities.

SMUD's electricity generation capacity consists in part of hydroelectric plants on the American River. The plants are run during hours of peak demand, though retaining sufficient flood control capacity dictates water releases to some extent. SMUD also owns the first of potentially two natural gas power plants (the Cosumnes Power Plant, brought online in 2006 on property adjacent to the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear facility) as well as wind-powered and solar-powered electric generation facilities. In addition, the utility owns some small gas-fired peaker plants for meeting the highest energy demands, typically on Sacramento's notably blistering summer days.

SMUD's headquarters building, built in the late 1950s on the edge of the East Sacramento neighborhood, is notable for its mural by Sacramento artist Wayne Thiebaud. The mural wraps around the ground floor of the building and is accessible to the public. It is one of the earliest major works by the artist, and remains his largest installation to date.