Public Power & Natural Gas Week

As a publicly owned utility, GUC is celebrating Public Power Week and Public Natural Gas Week. To be a public utility means GUC is owned by the community, not by shareholders or investors. We are governed by GUC customers who serve on a board appointed by our local elected officials, meaning the people who make the decisions also live here and work in the community’s best interest.

GUC reinvests in our infrastructure to ensure electricity, natural gas, and water services are delivered safely and reliably instead of sending dividends to investors.

Join us in celebrating Public Power Week and stop by our Main Office downtown on South Greene Street or our Express Office on Greenville Boulevard on Tuesday, October 6th for a bag of Pirates Popcorn!

Public Power and Public Natural Gas Week is October 4 through October 10.

Customer Relations Week

One tenant of our mission is to provide exceptional customer service. We rely on our Customer Relations Team to provide that service to our thousands of customers. Our call center offers world-class service. The response rate of our representatives out pace industry averages by leaps and bounds.

For an average public utility, the abandoned call rate is between 5-8%. GUC’s rate is between 1-2%. Average public utilities’ call answer time is 20 seconds, and GUC exceeds industry standards with a 10-second answer time.

The most recent statistics show the Call Center answering more than 111,000 calls so far this year alone with more than 8,000 in-office visits to our Main Office on South Greene Street and our Express Office on Greenville Boulevard.

We Want to Hear from You: Customer Survey to Begin Soon

Providing you with exceptional customer service is a top priority for GUC. Your feedback lets us know what we’re doing well and how we can improve. That’s why we have enlisted the help of the ECU Center for Research Studies to conduct a customer survey this month.

Beginning October 10, a random selection of customers will receive either a phone call, text, or email to complete a brief survey, which should take no more than 5 minutes. If you get the call, text, or email, we thank you in advance for your feedback.

Credit Card Transaction Fees Increase

The vendor GUC uses to help customers pay by credit card has notified us that their transaction fees will increase starting November 1, 2026.

GUC accepts credit cards for your convenience. Credit card companies and the vendors that process the payments charge a service fee for each transaction. The fee is collected by the vendor and shared with the credit card company. GUC does not set these fees nor receive any portion of them.

GUC regrets having to pass along the increased fees to customers and will explore options in the weeks and months ahead to help reduce credit card processing fees for our customers.

Beginning November 1, customers paying with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express will be charged the following:

Transactions up to $700 will be charged a flat fee of $3.49.

Transactions above $700 will be charged 2.59% (example: a transaction of $700.01 will result in a total charge of $718.14). Also, the previous single transaction limit of $10,000 will no longer apply.

To avoid these fees, GUC recommends customers pay their bills online using their bank account information, through the mail with checks, or at our offices with cash or check.

Have a Fun, Energy-Efficient Halloween

It’s spooky season, and nothing can be scarier than a high usage utility bill. You may not be able to ward away spirits and monsters, but you can do something about your energy usage. Check out these energy saving tips that will keep the high usage scaries away:

Starve Your Energy Vampires: Energy vampires can suck your wallet dry. Some appliances use energy even if they are powered off. Unplug your chargers, appliances, and electronics, and exorcise your home of vampire energy.

Keep the Darkest of Nights at Bay with Solar Lights: In the deep, dark, and haunting night, use solar-powered LED landscape lights to keep the ghouls away. This type of lighting uses no electricity from your home but still has powerful outdoor lighting capabilities. This will help light the way to your door and it helps the trick-or-treaters find their way to your candy stash.

Keep an Eye on the Door: If you are offering candy to trick-or-treaters this year, be sure you keep the door closed until they ring the bell or knock. Use draft stoppers if the night is going to be particularly chilly and avoid turning on your central heat by wearing comfy, warm clothes.

Let Your Decorations Be Scary, Not Energy Hungry: Avoid plug-in outdoor decorations if you can. There are a lot of solar powered decoration options you can use that don’t require plugging in. If you can’t find what you like in solar powered products, then be sure you used timed decoration lighting options and LED lights.

Manage Your Account Online

Energy Saver North Carolina is a fairly new state program that uses two rebate options to assist families with upgrades to make their homes more energy efficient. This is not a GUC program, but we want to make our customers aware of it.

The program is a coordinated effort to make homes healthier and more efficient, strengthen our electric grid, support quality jobs, and build a future-ready energy economy that benefits everyone across the state.

Both options offer rebates based on the income level of the applicant.

All application information can be found at www.energysavernc.org.

Detecting a Natural Gas Leak

Natural gas is one of the most reliable, safest, and environment-friendly fuels to use today, but leaks can occur. Learn how to recognize a gas leak by hearing, seeing, and smelling. If you answer YES to these questions, take action immediately, you may have a gas leak:

Do you SEE blowing dirt, bubbling bodies of water, and dry spots in areas that are not typically dry?
Do you HEAR an unusual hissing sound near gas lines or appliances?
Do you SMELL the rotten-egg-like odor associated with natural gas no matter how faint? (Even the faintest smell should be reported immediately).

If you think you have a gas leak, please leave the area and call our Emergency Hotline immediately at 855-SOS-2GUC (855-767-2482). Learn more about natural gas safety at guc.com/natural-gas-safety.

Who to Call

If you have an outage or other utility emergency, call our Emergency Hotline at 1-855-SOS2GUC (1-855-767-2482). Someone is there to help you get the help you need 24/7, no matter the weather.