“We were the City of Vernon’s first customer for natural gas. The connection to the City of Vernon’s natural gas transportation system was easy and quick. We have found that, over time, we have achieved significant savings and the service has been very dependable.”
Andy Andreoli
V.P. - Baker Commodities Inc.
Electricity
The City owns and operates Vernon Light & Power which offers reliable electricity to Vernon-based businesses at significant savings (10% to 40%) compared to purchasing electricity from Los Angeles Department of Water & Power or Southern California Edison. The City has operated and maintained the power system for more than 70 years, and in addition owns and maintains the distribution system. This guarantees strong and steady operation without interruptions to the system.
Fun Fact:
Of the electric power that comes from Hoover Dam, Vernon receives 0.6185 percent!
Natural Gas
The City of Vernon is one of the few cities in California where you have a choice of natural gas transportation vendors – either SoCal Gas or the City of Vernon’s Natural Gas Utility. In the City’s ongoing effort to maintain and foster a business friendly environment, it recently activated a natural gas distribution system and created the Natural Gas Utility as part of Vernon Light & Power. The natural gas distribution system is comprised of over 44 miles of six-inch main pipes and 7 miles of transmission pipes. The City’s intent in creating this utility was to reduce expenses for Vernon-based businesses. The City’s charges are typically 30-40% lower than comparable charges from SoCal Gas.
Water
Water rates in Vernon are among the lowest in Southern California. The city pumps its own wells, leases water rights from other agencies and maintains a connection with the Metropolitan Water District, which stores seasonal water runoff for later use. This unique blend of sources combined with the high volume, yet low quantity of meters allows Vernon to deliver water to large industrial users at attractive rates.
High Speed Data
The City of Vernon provides both “dark fiber” services and “lit fiber” services to businesses. Dark fiber service connects two buildings together with fiber cable and allows the customer to use the fiber pipe for networking applications. The other, “lit fiber service” is the Internet (similar to a T-1 but fiber-based, not cable-based).
The City established the Vernon Fiber Optic Pilot Project (project) in 1999. 35 miles of fiber optic cable, consisting of over 3,400 miles of individual fiber strands, were installed as part of the project. Approximately 50% of the fiber strands are for city use to control, monitor, and operate its light & power system. Fiber’s immunity to power surges and fluctuations makes it an attractive communication technology. In addition, the city has been able to link the traffic and water facilities, police and fire departments, and other city hall related facilities.
Not only has the project modernized the communications capability for city applications, but the business community is now benefiting. The project offers both lit fiber and dark fiber. Dark fiber provides physical connectivity between customer buildings, enabling IT staff to place electronic devices at fiber termination points and flow voice data and video traffic. With lit fiber services, customers take advantage of high speed broadband internet services at speeds of up to 10 Mbps. Lit fiber allows Vernon businesses to save thousands of dollars each year compared to other local Internet providers, with lower rates for high-speed Internet and data services.
The project provides benefits to all types of businesses by providing not only financial savings but the fiber provides reliability at the highest level. There are more than 25 customers currently subscribing to dedicated Internet access with several companies also taking advantage of the dark fiber services connecting from the main fiber optic loop.
If you have any questions regarding the project, contact Ali Nour at 323 583-8811.
Links:
Official Vernon City Website
