Carthage Water & Electric Plant

Overview

125 Years of Community Connection

As Carthage Water & Electric Plant (CWEP) marked 125 years of service, the municipally owned utility saw an opportunity to create a website that reflected both its history and its vision for the future. Since 1898, CWEP has operated Carthage’s electric, water, and communications systems with a focus on safe, reliable, and cost-effective service. Its dedicated team maintains the infrastructure that powers homes, supplies clean water, supports local businesses, and keeps the community connected. CWEP Fiber extends that mission through locally supported fiber internet plans for eligible homes and businesses within CWEP’s electric and water service area. CWEP partnered with Powerful to create a modern, forward-thinking website that could increase engagement, simplify navigation, and give visitors a dependable place to manage services, find information, and stay connected with the organization serving Carthage.

A Direct Route to Answers

CWEP’s range of services created an opportunity to organize a large amount of information without making the website feel complicated. Electric, water, billing, customer service, and outage resources needed a clear home, while CWEP Fiber required its own focused space for residential plans, business solutions, service requests, and technical support. Visitors often arrive with one specific task in mind, so each department needed to feel distinct while remaining part of the same CWEP website.

Powerful implemented a department header that appears at the top of the site. It works like a small set of tabs, allowing visitors to move between the main CWEP experience and CWEP Fiber without leaving the website. A resident may begin on the CWEP side to pay an electric bill through My CWEP Account, then decide to look into internet service for their home. Selecting the Fiber Internet tab brings them to CWEP Fiber, where prominent call-to-action buttons lead to Fiber Packages & Speeds, Interest/Sign Up, Pay Bill, and Support. A fiber customer can select CWEP Homepage to return to outage information, customer service resources, or start, stop, and move service details.

Both sides follow Powerful’s Sunnybrook blueprint, giving the website a consistent structure from one department to the next. Each experience begins with a focused message and call-to-action buttons. The CWEP side highlights common utility needs such as Outage Center, Start/Stop/Move Service, Pay My Bill, and Contact Us. The fiber side directs attention toward internet plans, sign-up information, billing, and support. Visitors can move between departments without needing to learn a completely different layout.

Distinct color palettes provide a visual cue that the content has shifted. CWEP’s blue and cyan details complement its electric and water services, while orange accents give CWEP Fiber a recognizable identity of its own. Behind the scenes, the entire website is maintained through one shared content management system. CWEP’s team can update utility information, revise fiber content, publish news, and add events from the same place. The result is one connected website that gives visitors clear service paths while keeping ongoing content management practical for CWEP’s staff.

Keeping Carthage in the Loop

CWEP’s role in Carthage reaches beyond utility infrastructure. As a municipally owned, locally controlled, not-for-profit organization, it regularly participates in community initiatives, holds public meetings, supports local programs, and shares information that can affect customers’ schedules and services. The website needed to give those updates a visible and organized place so engagement could continue between in-person conversations.

Powerful added the News Releases web app and Calendar and Events web app to the CWEP homepage. Each one creates a section that updates as CWEP publishes new information. The calendar displays upcoming dates in individual cards, allowing visitors to quickly identify the event name, date, time, and location. Examples shown on the homepage include Board of Public Works meetings and a Labor Day office closure. A Full Event Calendar button provides access to the complete schedule when visitors need to plan beyond the next few dates.

The news section gives CWEP space to explain the work behind those calendar entries and share stories that deserve more than a date and time. Homepage articles can highlight community giving, employee accomplishments, public appointments, reliability achievements, and local events. For example, CWEP can add an office closure to the calendar for quick reference, then publish a news release when additional instructions or service information would help customers prepare. A community initiative can appear as an upcoming event first, followed by a story that shares the people involved and the results.

Together, the 2 sections support different parts of the same conversation. The calendar answers practical questions about what is happening and when. News releases provide background, outcomes, and a closer look at CWEP’s involvement. Visitors can check the homepage for a meeting date, learn why a community program matters, or catch up on recent utility news without searching through several pages. This connection gives CWEP an ongoing way to keep Carthage informed while showing the community-centered work carried out by its team throughout the year.