After Hours Emergency Phone # (716) 559-1195
For emergency's with water, sewer, and electric services. When calling this number please be patient, your call will be answered.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Welcome!

We are the provider of Electric, Potable Water, and Sanitary Services to residents and businesses of the City of Salamanca and portions of the Townships of Salamanca and Great Valley.

​The Salamanca BPU is a publicly owned Utility System, with no stockholders (which results in very attractive rates).  Our utility system has operated efficiently for nearly ninety years, providing reliable utility services to all our customers.
NEW Notifications:
---> WARNING -- HIGHER JANUARY 2026 ELECTRIC BILLS: Recently, New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) announced a prolonged cold weather event from January 27 through February 1, 2026, anticipating sustained high electricity demand and necessitating the optimization of all generating resources. This escalation in demand has caused current energy prices to average nearly $600 per megawatt hour, in stark contrast to much lower prices during last January. Unfortunately, the Salamanca Board of Public Utilities’ Load Serving Entity, the New York Municipal Power Agency (NYMPA) has had no choice but to pass those costs including elevated transportation charges on to each member municipality. Energy prices are set in a regulated market by the NYISO, responding to supply and demand dynamics. NYMPA's hedging strategy helps mitigate some market fluctuations, for instance, NYMPA will only charge members $.16 per kilowatt-hour while markets are currently collecting $.23 per kilowatt-hour of energy. This is the supplemental energy charges pass-thru, PPA, that is billed to customers based on use at the meter. In an informational virtual meeting, a preview for member charges for January’s Invoice shockingly revealed Salamanca’s assessment will be a record high 1.5M before NYPA and National Grid invoices. The Board and City Council have declared this an emergency situation. Though customer PPA charges will be exponentially higher, they will be still lower than the larger service providers around the state and the Salamanca BPU asks for your understanding and assistance and also asks that you please make every effort to pay the charges to prevent accounts from going into arrears for many months. The Salamanca BPU sees this as a temporary weather event that hopefully will not be repeated in February. In response to the emergency, The BPU will work harder for solutions with customers in arrears to avoid any service disconnects including giving more grace periods to pay bills during these cold weather months. The Public Service Commission is also aware of this event. Thank you!!

Electric Department: (see Residential Electric Bill Tab)
  • The Salamanca BPU has adopted  the New York Municipal Power Agency (NYMPA) Generic Tariff amendments proposal filed with the NYS Department of Public Service (PSC) case # 24-E-0498.
  • Rider B: LED Street & Security Light Rates. This adds a Service Class for outdoor LED streetlights and security lights if none are present. For the Salamanca BPU, we do have an existing Service Class for these varied LED lighting fixtures so the Rider B adoption by this utility slightly modifies how the costing of LED Street lights and security lighting fixtures are assessed. It does not change the energy rates last approved by the PSC, rather it factors in the initial purchase of fixtures, photocells and the miscellaneous overhead the utility incurs to place LED lighting for accurate cost recovery and total depreciation purposes.
  •  Rider C: Net Metering policies. This introduces modified standard interconnection requirements (SIRs) for residential and non-residential customers who may own or operate electric generating equipment located and consumed on their property. This can include, but not limited to, solar generation with or without energy storage. The program is offered on a first come, first served basis. The Salamanca BPU will modify our concurrent Tariff to reflect the newly created NYMPA Generic Tariff policies and procedures in Rider C including engineered connection requirements at the customer's expense. It allows these interconnects up to a maximum size of 30 kW among other stipulations.

Water Department: ***PUBLIC NOTICE***
  • Potable water rate increase: The City of Salamanca Board of Public Utilities Commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday, August 12, 2025 passed a tentative potable water rate increase and will hold a public hearing on the new billing rate schedule for all customers.
         The hearing will be held on Tuesday October 14, 2025 at 6:00pm in the City of Salamanca Municipal Courtroom located at the rear of City Hall, 225 Wildwood Avenue, in the City of Salamanca. The Salamanca Board of Public Utilities will also receive written public comments on the proposed rate increase until Friday October 10, 2025. Written comments on the proposed rate increase can be mailed to the Salamanca Board of Public Utilities 225 Wildwood Avenue, Suite 6, Salamanca, NY 14779.
         Proposed is an incremental increase in the potable water rates in the city of 3.4% including a base charge raise of $0.59; a $1.40 minimum bill increase. Outside the city the rate increase is 3.7% including a base charge raise of $0.65; a $1.54 increase on a minimum bill respectively. Overall, this increase will result in a 3% increase in the average customer bill for water and sewer charges. This is necessary to offset the rising cost of operations and materials of the BPU Water Department.                                                                                                                                                These rates take effect December 1, 2025 and will appear in the utility bill customers receive January 1, 2026.  The City Sewer rate is unchanged though is a factor in calculations. The sole purpose of the hearing is to receive public comments on the proposed water rate increase. Information can be found here: "Water Billing".
  • NO LEAD SERVICE LINES DETECTED. The City of Salamanca Board of Public Utilities has completed the initial lead service line inventory required by the State of New York for compliance with the US EPA's Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. The City of Salamanca Board of Public Utilities is pleased to announce that no lead service lines were detected.
    The City of Salamanca Board of Public Utilities water system serves not only the City of Salamanca but customers in the Town of Salamanca and two water districts in The Town of Great Valley.

  • A copy of the Lead Service Line Inventory is available for Public Review at our office ​located at 225 Wildwood Ave Suite 6, Salamanca NY 14779.
* The Xpress-pay fee for an e-Check is $2.75 regardless of amount paid, whereas the fee for a Card payment is 3% of the paid amount.  We have no control over Xpress-pay processing fees.  The BPU encourages you when you pay, to process Xpress-pay payments on your own device if at all possible to avoid telephone congestion.
For consumer Electric Bill complaints that cannot be resolved with the City of Salamanca BPU, you may contact the New York Department of Public Service (DPS).  DPS complaints may be directed as follows: 
Website: www.dps.ny.gov/complaints 
​Phone: DPS HOTLINE 1-800-342-3355 ​(M-Th 7:30 am-7:00 pm, F 7:30 am-7:30 pm)
Mail: Office of Consumer Services, NYS Department of Public Service, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223
​2024 Water Quality Report 
 .The purpose of this report is to raise your understanding of drinking water and the awareness of the need to
​protect our drinking water sources.