.svg){kind=link}
The story
History
1930s
1935: EPB was founded as the Electric Power Board, a public distributor of TVA electricity to residents of Chattanooga after a public vote in favor of funding bonds to create public power.
1939: EPB paid $10.85 million for its portion of the TEPCO system, acquiring 42,000 customers in the process. The deal makes EPB the prominent electricity provider in the Greater Chattanooga area.
1990s
1999: EPB celebrated its 60th anniversary by introducing new branding meant to symbolize the company's innovation, strength, and responsiveness. The new brand image allowed EPB to expand into various non-power-related businesses, including telecommunications and internet services.
2000s
2000: Over a 3-year period, EPB launched its telecommunication services under the name “EPB Telecom”, providing local businesses with affordable, reliable, all-fiber high-speed internet services.
2008: EPB secured a bond to begin the construction of the Smart Grid, a project backed by more than 10 years of research and development.
2010s
2012: EPB completed their Smart Grid construction, one of the first and largest in the United States.
2015: EPB made its 10-gigabit internet service available to all residential and commercial customers within their 600 square mile service area, allowing them to access internet speeds roughly 1,000 times higher than the national average. Being the first internet service of its kind and the fastest broadband internet connection in the world, both EPB and the city of Chattanooga, grew in global recognition and media attention.
2020s
Source:
Read the full text
2022: EPB announced 25-gigabit internet service available city-wide.
2020 Easter tornado outbreak
On April 12, 2020, the Easter tornado outbreak that took place in the Chattanooga area disrupted the electric and fiber optic grids. More than 106,000 EPB customers lost power initially, with 44,000 regaining power within hours from Chattanooga's smart grid automatic processing. EPB leveraged mutual aid agreements to bring more than 1,500 utility workers from eight states to restore services for the remaining affected customers. In addition to the utility crews, EPB office employees also assisted by volunteering to distribute food and protective gear and coordinate the staging of reconstruction materials.
From Wikipedia’s article on EPB, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4