Historic Lafayette

LAFAYETTE
UTILITIES
SYSTEM
Lafayette Utilities System has a long and
proud history of serving the citizens of
Lafayette. For more than a hundred years, LUS
has been a community partner committed to
enhancing the quality of life through reliable
service, competitive pricing, and safety.
LUS offers their customers quality
electric, water, wastewater and wholesale
telecommunications services. LUS serves more
than 58,000 customers seven days a week,
twenty-four hours a day. As a customer-owned and
operated utility, LUS customers have the power to
set rates and control the standards of service.
LUS employs more than 450 people within
twenty-two operating divisions and is a
department of the Lafayette Consolidated
Government. The main benefit the Lafayette
community receives from owning its utility
system is having one of the lowest residential
electric rates in the state. LUS is an integral part
of the community and its earnings help keep
Lafayette taxes low. Approximately $17 million
of in lieu-of-tax is transferred to the
Consolidated Government general fund each
year. This contribution supports services such
as police and fire protection, parks and
recreation, and community development.
In 1998, LUS expanded its operations beyond
traditional utilities by constructing a 65-mile,
96-strand SONET (Synchronized Optical
Network)-based telecommunication system
encircling Lafayette and designed to monitor and
maintain all the system’s operations twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week. Since 2002, LUS
has supplied a high-speed fiber optic network
for wholesale telecommunications customers,
building a high degree of trust and offering
competitive prices to its customers every day.
The Power Distribution division of LUS is
responsible for the operation and maintenance
of the Louis “Doc” Bonin gas-fired, steamturbine
generator facility and the T.J. Labbé and
Hargis-Hébert gas-fired, combustion-turbine
generation facilities.
The Electric Operation division is
responsible for all of the field activities
associated with operating and maintaining the
electrical transmission and distribution
facilities. The functional activities include
service calls, system construction, and system
control and substation operations.
The Water Production division is responsible
for the daily production of more than 20-million
gallons of high-quality, good-tasting drinking
water to its customers. LUS’s drinking water has
been selected as the “Best Tasting Water” in
Louisiana many times over the past several years
and, as far back as records exist, LUS has never
been cited for violations of water standards.
The Water Distribution division is
responsible for maintaining the water
distribution system that supplies water to
individual customer connections. The water
system is also a crucial part of the public safety
system by providing water for fire protection.
More than 5,000 fire hydrants are checked
annually to ensure they are in good working
order when needed.
The Wastewater Treatment division is
responsible for the operation of four wastewater
treatment facilities with a total capacity of 18.5
million gallons. The water treated is returned to
the Vermilion River cleaner than the river itself.
Biosolids from the plant are recycled on EPAapproved
land-farm sites for beneficial reuse.
The Wastewater Collection division is
responsible for keeping the wastewater system
flowing without any inconvenience to
customers. The division maintains over 650
miles of wastewater lines and more than 9,900
manholes. The division also has responsibility
for more than 120 lift stations throughout
the city.
80 ✦ HISTORIC LAFAYETTE