Specialties

KEYS is the municipal Public Power utility that has provided power to Key West and the Lower Florida Keys since 1943.

History

Established in 1943.

The City of Key West purchased the electric utility in 1943 and the City Council created the Utility Board to oversee KEYS (then known as City Electric System before the utility's name was changed in 2002). In 1969, the Florida State Legislature passed a new enabling act for the governing of KEYS, which is still in effect today, and calls for the popular election of five Utility Board members serving four-year terms. Initially, KEYS only provided electric service to the City of Key West. In 1953, the utility expanded its service area to the Seven-Mile Bridge. In those early years, electricity was produced via local generation. In the late 1970s, the Utility Board studied alternative power supplies and decided to construct a transmission line (or TIELINE) to interconnect to the mainland power grid. On May 8, 1987, KEYS interconnected the TIELINE with the mainland power grid. KEYS currently imports nearly all of its power supply and uses local generation for emergency back-up only.