Utilities

The Iowa City Area Development Group and Priority One work aggressively with utility partners to attract business projects to the Corridor region. Our area communties and utility partners offer a variety of options for businesses seeking to expand or locate in the Corridor. 

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

The Technology Corridor is well served by a variety of telecommunication service companies such as Qwest Corporation, AT&T, MCI, Sprint, McLeodUSA and South Slope Communications. All of these companies offer competitive voice and data services that meet the most demanding customer needs.

South Slope Cooperative Communications Company is a member-owned and operated communications company serving western and south Cedar Rapids, as well as other smaller communities in the Cedar Rapids and Johnson County areas. The Cooperative has state-of-the-art digital switching offices and provides quality telecommunications services with more than 15,000 lines.

ELECTRICITY

Electricity to Cedar Rapids and western Johnson County is supplied by Alliant Energy Corporation. Alliant Energy consistently ranks as one of the most competitively-priced suppliers of electricity in the nation. Alliant Energy’s three utility subsidiaries, IES Utilities, Interstate Power Co. and Wisconsin Power and Light Co., serve more than 1.3 million customers, covering 54,000 square miles and more than 1,000 communities in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Using a mix of fossil fuel, hydroelectric, nuclear, biomass and wind sources, they manufacture and market electric energy from 31-generation locations across the Midwest with a total output of more than 5,000 megawatts. The utility operations of Alliant are headquartered in Cedar Rapids.

Electric standby generation is another major component for electrical service. The benefits of this service often include savings in energy due to offering lower-cost interruptible power rates. Many times, Alliant’s design engineers will design, build, own, operate and maintain the standby equipment on the customer’s property.

Electricity to the Coralville site is supplied by Linn County REC, a 20,000-member-owned electrical cooperative serving residential and commercial consumers in rural and suburban areas of Linn and Johnson counties with line extensions into Jones, Cedar, Iowa and Benton counties. Rate and equipment incentives are available for economic development on new commercial loads or significant expansion of existing commercial loads. These incentives are based on a number of factors such as energy usage, job creation and cost of construction to name a few.

NATURAL GAS

MidAmerican Energy Company provides natural gas service for both the featured Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area sites. MidAmerican Energy purchases its natural gas from four different transcontinental pipelines that pass through the area allowing them to provide natural gas prices that are consistently well below the national average.

WATER / WASTEWATER

All of the Technology Corridor cities offer public utilities at reasonable rates. The region has an abundant supply of water and wastewater treatment capacity, equivalent to serving nearly 3 million people.