Bryan Texas Utilities history

In 1911 the City of Bryan purchased its first electric distribution system from Bryan Ice, Water & Light for $7,650, and street lights on Main Street in Downtown Bryan were installed.

In 1913, a modern sewage disposal plant was built for the western part of the city.

Bryan’s first telephones were installed in 1918.

In 1922, Bryan High School was the state championship in the first UIL football game ever played.

As the Great Depression began coming to a close, the City of Bryan joined in the relief efforts by obtaining a loan from the Rural Electric Administration (REA) to establish a Rural Electric division in 1938.

In 1939, Bryan developed its 18-hole Municipal Golf Course.

In 1958, Townshire became Bryan’s first major shopping center.

The Carnegie served the community until 1969 when the city opened the Bryan Public Library.

The creation of shopping centers away from downtown, however, created a strain on the Central Business District. Its first enclosed shopping center, Manor East Mall, opened in 1972.

The Roland C. Dansby Power Plant, named for former Mayor Dansby, was built 5 miles north of the City of Bryan in 1978 with one steam unit, powered by natural gas with a fuel oil backup system.

Dansby Power Plant received a new environmentally sensitive, and cost-effective, generating unit in 2004 to serve the growing customer base, bringing the generation capacity of the plant to 115 MW.

In 2009, BTU celebrated 100 years of serving the community with a special exhibit at the Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley.

The same year, a third generating unit was installed at Dansby Power Plant, providing even more generation to the customers of BTU. In 2010, Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI), also known as ‘Smart Meters’, was installed throughout the BTU service territory.

BTU was the only public power utility in Texas in 2014 to receive the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) Diamond award.

BTU was recognized for a second three-year term in 2017 as an APPA RP3 Diamond award designee.

In October 2018, BTU took over operations of the Lake Bryan Park.

In 2020, BTU was awarded a third consecutive Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) Diamond Designation by the American Public Power Association.