Cape Fear Public Utility Authority was forged in consolidation, combining what had been separate water and sewer services operated by the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County into a single entity that opened its doors in 2008.
Now, for what is believed to be the first time in CFPUA’s more than 16-year history, another utility consolidation is on the horizon. Around this time next year, the Town of Wrightsville Beach’s water and sewer services will be consolidated into CFPUA, with customers currently served by the Town becoming CFPUA customers.

The consolidation follows two years of careful negotiations between CFPUA and the Town, as well as reviews and approvals in the last few months by the CFPUA Board and the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen, engineers of the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County, and the N.C. Local Government Commission.

This consolidation is unequivocally a win-win outcome for customers of both the Town and CFPUA. Diligent work by our region’s Legislative delegation secured $25 million in State appropriations for the consolidation. This funding will help pay the costs of significant, necessary infrastructure upgrades to the Town’s water and sewer systems that otherwise might have required similarly significant rate increases for its customers. As for CFPUA, we are a government agency, operating at no profit. We rely almost entirely on our ratepayers to fund the cost to operate and maintain our community’s water and sewer systems. Our current customers will benefit from the economies of scale resulting from the addition next fall of about 2,800 customers who currently are part of the Wrightsville Beach system.

The consolidation plan identifies more than $23.5 million in improvements to infrastructure on Wrightsville Beach. Among these are construction of redundant water and sewer mains across the Intracoastal Waterway from the mainland to the Town, significantly strengthening the resiliency of these services.

I and my fellow CFPUA Board members took a first step toward this work at our August meeting, where we voted to authorize design-build procurement for the new water and sewer crossings and related water system interconnections. Design-build will help maximize the project’s cost-efficiency and expedite its completion.

Meeting the September 30, 2025, target date for final consolidation – when customers of Wrightsville Beach become customers of CFPUA – will require significant work by and coordination between staff at CFPUA and Wrightsville Beach.
This includes tasks ranging from integrating Wrightsville Beach customers into CFPUA’s management systems, to ensuring water meters and computer controls that provide real-time monitoring of pumps and other crucial equipment meet CFPUA’s requirements. To help guide this process, we have named Matt Tribett, formerly CFPUA’s Assistant Operations Director, as Utility Coordinator.

The Town currently has seven positions dedicated to maintaining and operating its water and sewer services. All current employees will be offered positions at CFPUA, pending the regular screening process required of new CFPUA employees.

Until the target finalization date in September 2025, the Town will continue to manage all aspects of water and sewer services for its residents, including billing and customer service. When Wrightsville Beach customers do officially join CFPUA, they can expect the same high-level of service at the same rates as our current customers. Although CFPUA and the Town have different rate structures, both result in approximately the same average revenue per customer, according to an analysis completed as part of the consolidation study. Usage and other factors will determine how individual customers’ bills may change under CFPUA’s rate structure.

You can expect to hear more about this work in the coming months. Look for updates on the websites of CFPUA and the Town of Wrightsville Beach.