The Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO) is an electrical power utility provider headquartered in

Marquette, Michigan Marquette ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,629 at the 2020 United States Census, which makes it the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Marquette serves as the seat of government of Marquett ...

with service centers in Escanaba, Houghton, Iron River, Ishpeming, Munising and Ontonagon.

History

The Upper Peninsula Power Company was formed in 1947 as a result of the merging of three electric utility providers: the Houghton County Electric Light Company, the Copper District Power Company, and Iron Range Light and Power. UPPCO joined a coalition led by

Wisconsin Public Service Corporation Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS) is a utility company headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The company serves more than 450,000 electric customers and more than 333,000 natural gas customers in 27 counties in eastern, northeastern no ...

(WPS) in 1961 to create a coordination of electrical service providers in Upper Michigan and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Through this agreement, the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan System (WUMS) was created with the ultimate goal of increasing the electrical grid resiliency by coordinating operational tasks such as equipment maintenance and construction of infrastructure facilities. In 1994,

(WPS) formed the WPS Resources Corporation which became the holding company most partnered electric utility providers (excluding UPPCO) operated under at the time. UPPCO was eventually acquired by the holding company in 1998. In 2007, UPPCO negotiated a separation from

Integrys Energy Group Integrys Energy Group, Inc. was an American energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed by the merger of WPS Resources Corp. and Peoples Energy Corp. on February 21, 2007. The Chairman, President, and chief executive offic ...

(the new holding company resulting from a merger between WPS Resources Corporation and Peoples Energy Corp.). The separation was effectively completed in 2017 and UPPCO resumed operation as an independent electric utility provider.

Service area

The UPPCO service area includes 10 counties in the central and western portion of

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

's Upper Peninsula including: Alger,

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

, Marquette,

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

, Schoolcraft, Baraga,

Houghton Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada *Houghton Township, ...

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

, Ontonagon, and

Keweenaw The Keweenaw Peninsula ( , sometimes locally ) is the northernmost part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It projects into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States, leading to its moniker of "Copper Country." As ...

. The company serves approximately 52,000 customers which equates to approximately 12 customers per square mile.

Power generation

UPPCO generates approximately 20% of the electrical power distributed to its customers. Additional power is purchased from

Consumers Energy Consumers Energy is an investor owned utility that provides natural gas and electricity to 6.7 million of Michigan's 10 million residents. It serves customers in all 68 of the state's Lower Peninsula counties. It is the primary subsidiary of C ...

in lower

and the

Wisconsin Energy Corporation WEC Energy Group is an American company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that provides electricity and natural gas to 4.4 million customers across four states. Subsidiaries Wisconsin * We Energies, the umbrella name for Wisconsin Electric Power ...

(WE Energies). UPPCO operates multiple electrical power generation plants primarily including hydroelectric dams. Operational facilities include:
Victoria Dam
in Rockland, Michigan - 12.2 Megawatts * Boney Falls Dam in Cornell, Michigan - 4.1 Megawatts * Prickett Hydroelectric Dam in Baraga, Michigan - 2 Megawatts * Hoist Hydroelectric Dam in Negaunee, Michigan - 3.4 Megawatts * Escanaba 1 Hydroelectric Dam in

Escanaba, Michigan Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city ...

- 1.6 Megawatts * Escanaba 3 Hydroelectric Dam in

- 3 Megawatt

Power transmission and distribution

UPCCO operates all transmission lines at 138,000 volts and has transmission interconnections with

as well as Wisconsin Energies and the Cloverland Electric Cooperative. UPPCO operates sub-transmission systems at 69,000 volts and has sub-transmission interconnections with th
Marquette Board of Light and Power
Alger-Delta Electric Cooperative, and Cloverland Electric Cooperative. UPPCO operates its distribution network at 12,470/7,200 volts. The company's distribution network includes approximately 3,300 miles of both single and three phase power circuits served by 58 distribution substations.

External links

Upper Peninsula Power Company

References

{{Reflist Companies based in Michigan Electric power companies of the United States