Tucked away in the pastoral East Tennessee river valley, a once-rural electric company is widely recognized today as one of the region’s preeminent multi-service utility providers with the well-earned reputation for going the extra mile.

LCUB was formed in 1938, when Lenoir City signed a contract with the fledgeling Tennessee Valley Authority to offer TVA-supplied electricity to its residents and businesses. The tiny electric department had four employees and 317 customers. By the mid-1940s, LCUB’s services expanded to include water and sewer under the authority of a newly created Water and Light Commission with citizen oversight.

It was during this period that LCUB clearly demonstrated its commitment to support the broader region, working diligently to build a power distribution network for the neighboring West Knox County community. By 1945, LCUB had expanded its service area well into West Knox County and north into the Solway at the Anderson County border. LCUB also invested heavily to improve the water system and build an additional reservoir, and shortly thereafter added a natural gas distribution system to its utility services.

Through the years, LCUB has continued to do whatever it takes to provide the highest quality services, using the most advanced technology to meet the utility needs of its growing customer base at the lowest possible rates. Today, that’s approximately 65,430 electric customers in a four-county service region, plus 9,005 water customers, 6,277 natural gas customers and 5,362 wastewater customers, making LCUB the eighth largest utility among the 154 TVA distributors.