In Holland, the city runs the power — and uses it to melt the snow downtown

Here’s something to know if you’re buying in the city of Holland: your electricity, water, and sewer come from the city’s own utility, the Holland Board of Public Works (usually just called the BPW), rather than a big regional company like Consumers Energy or DTE. (The BPW offers internet service in town, too.) Holland has generated its own power since the 1890s, and today the city runs a natural-gas plant called Holland Energy Park, which opened in 2017 and replaced an older coal plant. The BPW’s service area covers the city plus parts of some neighboring townships — Park, Holland, Fillmore, and Laketown — so a few addresses just outside the city are on BPW too, while others use a different provider. It’s worth checking which utility serves a specific address.

The most famous thing the city does with its power plant is melt snow. Holland captures the leftover heat from generating electricity and runs that warm water through a network of pipes buried under downtown streets and sidewalks — a “snowmelt” system that keeps the heart of downtown clear of snow and ice all winter, with no shoveling or salt. It’s the largest city-owned snowmelt system in North America and has been running since 1988. Your own house almost certainly won’t sit on the snowmelt grid (it’s a downtown system), but it’s a beloved local feature, and plenty of private property owners around town have added their own snowmelt too.