Fairmont’s city leaders believe it’s important to continue to expand its public utility infrastructure, which currently serve 4,800 residential customers, including 828 commercial and 12 industrial users. Governed by a five-member Public Utilities Commission, the utility also provides service to 200 rural customers.

Fairmont’s Municipal Water System uses Budd Lake as its primary raw, with a storage capacity of over 5 million gallons. Wholesale electricity is purchased through Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA) and local distribution lines are maintained by the City of Fairmont.  SMMPA also owns a 36 MW generating facility within city limits. Natural Gas is distributed by Minnesota Energy, which has a local branch in town. The city is also situated just four miles from the Northern Border Pipeline and Northern Natural Gas.

Fairmont Public Utilities, in conjunction with the (SMMPA), offers energy efficiency rebates on qualifying Energy Star appliances for our residential customers and rebates on Energy Star business equipment for our commercial clients.

Frontier Communications, Midcontinent Communications and BEVCOMM serve residents’ digital needs. In 2016, Martin County Broadband committee partnered with Frontier to acquire a “Border to Border” grant, to make Internet access even more feasible for citizens across the economic spectrum.