Cleveland Public Power and Custom Rubber
How Cleveland Public Power works with Custom Rubber to deliver reliable electric service that supports manufacturing and long-term business success.
Custom Rubber and Cleveland Video
How Public Power Supports Manufacturing in Cleveland
Founded in the 1950s, Custom Rubber Corporation is a contract manufacturer of molded rubber parts serving a wide range of industries, including construction, plumbing, fiber optics, oil and gas, and consumer products. It has been a longtime customer of Cleveland Public Power (CPP) and part of the Cleveland community for decades.
“Custom Rubber has been a customer of ours for more than 30 years now,” said Ammon Danielson, CPP Commissioner and an AMP Board of Trustees member. “In that time, Cleveland Public Power has grown and so too has Custom Rubber, and in some ways, we have grown together.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for one of Custom Rubber’s product lines surged. As production nearly tripled, Custom Rubber required additional electric capacity to meet customer needs.
“We asked Cleveland Public Power for more power, and so they did successfully design and implement and put in place a second incoming line into our building,” said Charlie Braun, President of Custom Rubber.
According to Danielson, this type of collaboration is a hallmark of public power — working alongside local businesses to meet immediate needs while planning for the future.
“One of the challenges that they [businesses] face, especially setting up a new business in a new manufacturing area, is that the demands of today won’t necessarily be the demands of tomorrow,” said Danielson. “We work with them to understand their demand now and their demand in the future so that we’re making sure to size our equipment to match their needs.”
While Braun was happy to see the project completed, he was most surprised to find that CPP covers the cost of much of the infrastructure needed to deliver or expand service to customers in their community, including transformers and other equipment. Combined with flexible rate options, that approach helps businesses plan with confidence.
“I think the fixed or contractual price agreements for five-year time periods is really nice for a business like ours to be able to forecast and budget into the future.” Braun said. “It makes it a little bit easier to decide to make investments in machinery and people.”
For CPP, customer relationships like the one with Custom Rubber reflect the principles of public power — supporting local businesses, strengthening the local economy and reinvesting in the communities they serve. By delivering reliable, locally controlled electric service, CPP helps ensure that businesses can continue operating, growing and providing jobs in Cleveland for decades to come.
“Our reliability is their reliability — it’s their income and it is their long-term success,” Danielson said.
Watch the video above about the relationship between CPP and Custom Rubber.
About the Campaign
Throughout 2026, AMP plans to feature AMP Members and the benefits of public power by spotlighting the relationship between municipal electric utilities and their communities through the Public Power Is Community Focused multimedia campaign. The campaign will produce a series of videos, stories, social media posts and graphics aimed at raising awareness of the value and impact of public power. The campaign will highlight community benefits, such as reliability, local control and reinvestment by showing real stories of how public power supports education, businesses and community groups.