---
title: A City Power Utility Becomes the First in the US to Sell Commercial Quantum Computing Access
description: EPB, the Chattanooga utility behind the city's 2010 gigabit fiber network, is now the first US power utility to sell commercial quantum computing access.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-09-20T13:00:24.901Z
updated: 2026-09-20T13:00:24.912Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/epb-first-us-utility-commercial-quantum-computing
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/epb-quantum-center-launch-319280.webp
categories: Science & Tech
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Chattanooga's city-owned electric utility switched on a quantum computer this week and will start selling access to it in October, making it the first power utility in the United States to sell commercial quantum computing time.

EPB, which serves Chattanooga, Tennessee, installed an IonQ Forte Enterprise system at a new EPB Quantum Center on September 18. The company says the center is America's first facility to combine commercial quantum computing and quantum networking in one building. Commercial access, branded EPB Quantum Computing, opens to outside customers in early October.

The Forte Enterprise is a 36-qubit trapped-ion machine, [IonQ's highest-performing data-center quantum computer](https://www.ionq.com/quantum-systems/forte-enterprise). It is not the largest quantum computer built anywhere, but it is one that a power utility now owns and rents out, which no US utility has done before.

## EPB Puts a Quantum Computer Beside Its Substations

Quantum computers in the United States have mostly sat inside federal labs and research universities. The Department of Energy, for instance, picked Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab to run national quantum research centers near Chicago. EPB has put a quantum computer inside a municipal utility instead, alongside the transformers and substations it already runs, and it rents out time on the machine to businesses and universities directly.

EPB's first customer is the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which in 2023 became the first American university to connect to a commercial quantum network and plans to add 135 to 240 faculty, staff and students to its quantum programs. EPB is lining up Vanderbilt University next, which is launching an Institute for Quantum Innovation to anchor a Chattanooga quantum innovation campus, with roughly 250 researchers, faculty and staff attached to it.

Before any outside customer runs a job, EPB's own Quantum Computing Fellows get first use of the machine. The eight graduate researchers are testing algorithms to optimize EPB's power grid circuits, aiming to cut costs and improve resilience. A $4 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology funds the fellowship, which EPB launched earlier this year. A separate project pairs the quantum machine with a classical supercomputer installed at the same center, built with IonQ, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NVIDIA, to combine quantum and high-performance classical computing on parts of EPB's grid.

IonQ is putting $15 million into a Tennessee Quantum Communications Research Center in Chattanooga, expected to create roughly two dozen jobs. EPB is hosting a Quantum in Business conference on October 1, drawing more than 400 business leaders, researchers and policymakers, where organizers have cited a McKinsey industry projection that quantum computing could unlock $2.7 trillion in economic value in the coming years. That figure is an industry forecast, not a number EPB has claimed for itself.

## EPB Is Repeating Its 2010 Fiber Bet

EPB launched the world's first community-wide gigabit-speed internet in 2010, when few cities were making that kind of infrastructure bet, and Chattanooga later leaned on that lead to attract businesses. Board chair Vicky Gregg and Mayor Tim Kelly both pointed to that history at the launch. Kelly called the new center "a milestone," saying that becoming the first US hub to offer commercially available quantum computing and quantum networking under one roof puts Chattanooga in a position it held once before, with fiber.

"Access to a quantum computer is rare and valuable," said Janet Rehberg, EPB's chief executive. "We're starting with our own work to directly benefit our customers while also prioritizing the universities that are investing to expand quantum education, workforce development and research right here in Chattanooga."

Niccolo de Masi, IonQ's chairman and chief executive, called the setup "a first-of-its-kind environment where organizations can explore quantum applications today and help shape the opportunities this technology will create tomorrow."

The Quantum Fellows' grid-optimization work is about a year in, and EPB has not published operational results from it. Its named commercial customers so far are two universities, not businesses paying to solve problems the machine can already handle at scale. A 36-qubit system is IonQ's best, but it is still well short of the scale most enterprise quantum workloads would eventually need. EPB has not said when Chattanooga's grid, or any paying customer, will see a measurable result from the machine.

## FAQ

**Q: How much does it cost to use EPB's quantum computer?**
EPB has not published pricing for commercial access. It is selling time on the machine to outside customers, but has not said what a single job or a block of access costs.

**Q: What is the IonQ Forte Enterprise?**
It is IonQ's highest-performing data-center quantum computer, a 36-qubit trapped-ion system that uses charged atoms held in place by electromagnetic fields to perform calculations.

**Q: Who can buy access to EPB's quantum computer?**
Commercial access, branded EPB Quantum Computing, opens in early October 2026. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is the first customer, with Vanderbilt University next. EPB has not said when or whether it will open access to private businesses beyond research universities.

**Q: What is the difference between quantum computing and quantum networking?**
Quantum networking, which EPB already runs, moves information between sites in a way that is extremely hard to intercept. Quantum computing runs calculations. EPB says its center is the first US facility to offer both under one roof.

**Q: Which industries is EPB aiming its quantum service at?**
EPB's Quantum in Business conference on October 1 is aimed at business leaders in insurance, logistics, automotive and manufacturing, financial services, healthcare and chemicals, the sectors expected to gain the most from quantum computing first.