In 1887, Colonel Eli Lilly, the founder of the pharmaceutical company that still bears his name, and Alfred Potts, the founder of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, had a big idea – to operate the local natural gas utility only for the benefit of customers and the community.
Rather than creating a for-profit utility focused on the needs of stockholders or placing the utility within city government where it would be influenced by politics, Citizens was established as a locally-owned Public Trust focused on a mission to provide outstanding customer service, enhance quality of life and foster economic development.
Today that mission lives on and has been expanded to provide safe and reliable water and wastewater services to more than 800,000 people and thousands of businesses across Central Indiana. Our positive impact on the community continues to grow.
Citizens Energy Group's natural gas utility serving Marion County has become one of the safest urban utilities in the U.S. while reducing average customer bills more than 40 percent in the past 10 years. Our thermal energy utility allows commercial, institutional and industrial customers to focus on their mission rather than on providing their own heating and cooling services.
Citizens' water utility is providing high quality drinking water to the 8-county metropolitan area as it continually upgrades aging infrastructure. Our wastewater utility is currently completing the DigIndy Project, a 28-mile network of deep tunnels that will nearly eliminate sewer overflows to rivers and streams by 2025, thus restoring water quality in area waterways to levels not seen in more than 100 years.
We are governed by a Board of Trustees and Board of Directors – all of whom are accomplished residents of Marion County and whose sole focus is acting in the best interests of the Trust and its beneficiaries. The Trustees appoint and oversee the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors meets publicly to ensure the company is meeting its financial responsibilities and to oversee and appoint the Citizens management team.
Our commitment to building a more diverse workforce is rooted in the conviction that it will ultimately produce better decisions for the Trust. We also know having a more diverse workforce helps us better understand the needs, priorities and perspective of all Trust stakeholders including customers, regulators, community groups and city leaders.
Through investments of time and money, Citizens Energy Group and its employees are working each year to make Central Indiana a better place to live. Investments include funding for energy efficiency grants, low-income home weatherization projects, economic and neighborhood revitalization projects, efforts to promote diversity, and contributions to a wide range of non-profit organizations.
Each January, hundreds of employees come together with partner companies for our annual Sharing the Dream event to refurbish a Indianapolis Park Department facility and honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Since 2009, we have donated over $3 million dollars during projects to improve the Brookside Park Family Center, Martin Luther King, Jr. Park’s pool and bathhouse, Pride Park Community Center, Municipal Gardens, Eagle Creek Hide-A-Way, Perry Park’s Ice Arena, Thatcher Park, Krannert Park, Garfield Park and Riverside Park.