A Municipal electric plant had been in the minds of Laurens residents for many years, but recent history goes back to 1947. It was early in that year that the "town fathers" decided to start action. G.L. "Roy" Rubel was then in his first year as mayor; and serving with him as councilmen were Don C. Miller, F. E. Siddall, Fred A. Eaton, E. J. Kees, and Robert Mather. They contracted with the firm of Buell and Winter, Consulting Engineers, to make a feasibility study covering the use of electricity and methods of financing.

At a regular meeting on August 19, the Town Council set September 30, 1947 as the date for a special election on the light plant question. Residents of Laurens set a new voting record in the special election with 656 visiting the polls. The vote was 613 for and 34 against the proposal.

The residents of Laurens approved a trustee plan of management and Mayor Rubel appointed F. E. Siddall, Fed A. Eaton, and Roy V. Veville as the Board of Trustees. The vote authorized a bond issue of $300,000.00 for the plant and distribution system, none of which could be paid from taxes. Revenue from the plant operation would be the sole source of funds, to pay operating expenses, interest and bonds.

In January 1948, the old Layone Feed Mill was purchased as a site for the new plant, at a cost of $6,000.00. The new plant started in full-time operation at 9:30 a.m., Monday, September 12, 1949. Formal open house was held November 6, 1949.

On August 16, 1956, the Laurens Municipal Light and Power Plant and the Pocahontas Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) entered into a contract for interchange of power. This brought generating costs plus purchased power down to a competitive level, and the plant was off and running with a reasonable operating profit.

During this time, the Missouri River was being developed, dams were being build and generation facilities erected, and in June, 1966, the Board of Trustees entered into a contract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation for Laurens' total power requirements, as a preference customer. The Bureau was to furnish total power requirements, believed to be adequate to October 1977.

Before Laurens could be Bureau power, a new distribution high voltage line was erected from Hinton, Iowa to Spencer. Laurens Municipal Light and Power then had to build a mile and a half of 69,000-volt line from the sub-station east of Laurens into the plant with a 3,750 KW sub-station at the plant. A small steel building was erected next to the sub-station to house the equipment from which the power is fed out to the customers through six 2,400-volt feeder circuits. These contracts were all paid in cash from operating revenue.

Operating revenues were accumulated and invested in certificates of deposit over a period of sever years with theses expenditures in mind, because operating studies had indicated these projects were coming as the loads increased.

The 69,000 volt line, the sub-station and switch gear of the Laurens plant completed the tie lines so that Laurens could take advantage of the Bureau of Reclamation power, using the Corn Belt Cooperative lines to fill in between and using Corn Belt as the wheeling agent.

The original bond issue of $300,000.00 plus the second bond issue of $200,000.00 which was to be paid by 1977 were all paid off in 1968. At this time, the entire Laurens Municipal Light & Power Plant was debt-free until approximately 1975.

In 1966, an Electric System Planning and Rate Study was prepared by Buell and Winter Engineering Company of Sioux City, and from this study a rate adjustment was found to be in order. The new rates went into effect in early 1967, making the Laurens electric rates the lowest in the city's history, considerably lower than were in 1949.