The following is a transcript of the Nov. 3, 2025, episode of Public Power Now. Learn more about subscribing to Public Power Now at Publicpower.org/Podcasts. Some quotes may have been edited for clarity.
Paul Ciampoli
Welcome to the latest episode of Public Power Now. I'm Paul Ciampoli, APPA's News Director. Our guest on this episode is Andy Fusco, Chief Strategy Officer for ElectriCities of North Carolina.
Andy's here to discuss how ElectriCities has utilized APPA's Reliable Public Power Provider and Smart Energy Provider programs to help its members improve their operations using these two assessments as a benchmark. ElectriCities provides power supply and related critical services to over 90 community owned electric systems in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Andy, thanks for joining us.
Andy Fusco
Thanks for having me.
Paul Ciampoli
Andy, just to get our conversation started, I want to give you the opportunity to detail how ElectriCities engaged with its members once it decided to utilize the RP3 and Smart Energy Provider programs as key assessment tools.
Andy Fusco
I think really that's the most interesting part of the story…how we engage with the members. ElectriCities and its members across three states here has been a long time participant in RP3. We always have some of the largest numbers by state in terms of participants and awardees in RP3 and so that was good.
However, SEP being a new program and something a little unfamiliar to us, we have not had that high of a level of engagement with SEP up until we kind of made some changes.
I believe we had three or four members that were consistently participating in that program. The thing that really got us traction recently in this was how we tied it to our strategic planning process.
In 2022, we went through a process where we developed a new strategic plan and went through the usual sorts of things, came up with a vision and a purpose and values and all of that. And the next step in that process was to evaluate and measure how we were performing relative to that strategic plan and our vision and I'll restate it, I'll summarize our vision, but basically our vision gets to the fact that we want to be the best in terms of utilities in our region.
We want to be better than co-ops. We want to be better than the IOUs. We want to perform better than they do, and we also want to be recognized to be better than they are, so to that end, we put in two measures.
One measure was on customer satisfaction and that gets to the being recognized as the best. We want to be ranked as number one in terms of customer satisfaction.
The other side of that is the operational side, how we actually are performing relative to other utilities in the area and across the country and that's where we tied our strategic plan to both RP3 and SEP and our top level measure there was just simply how many of our members were participating in both of those programs with the intent especially on SEP but in both to grow participation and have our members to go through that process and really use them as tools for improvement.
So what we did was we instituted those measures and then in some of the lower level priorities and those sorts of things in a strategic plan. We zeroed in on specific questions in each one of those tools and that way we could get better analysis on OK, what are the specific areas we need to improve and so on and so forth.
So, really the key takeaway for us was tying this to a longer term objective in the strategic plan to get traction and also improvement across our members.
Paul Ciampoli
So what are the specific steps that were taken by ElectriCities to help its members improve their operations using the Smart Energy Provider and RP3 assessments as a benchmark?
Andy Fusco
I kind of characterize those as three areas. One is assistance in applying, two is analyzing the results and then three is making program adjustments both at ElectriCities and with our members, so as I'm sure you're probably aware, these assessments take a lot of effort to just fill out the application to be quite frank.
RP3 is very involved and especially if you're a smaller utility -- that's a big endeavor -- that takes a lot of resources that sometimes utilities don't have. So if there was any way that we could assist them in that application process, we would do that. So just a few things that we did was first off, communicate the deadlines to our members, make them aware of the tool and ensure that they were planning to apply and then we also provided our staff as points of contact for assistance with the two assessments.
And then if you get into the details of the assessments, they ask for particular data and that sort of thing. And in some cases, ElectriCities happened to be housing that data, so if we did have that data, we tried to make it very accessible and easy for the members to get a hold of so they could just copy paste it into the application.
We offered application review if our members had filled out an application and wanted a second set of eyes on it and we also published a best practices guide for our members in terms of applying for RP3 and SEP so they knew how to interpret questions and what sorts of information APPA was looking for.
We have one member, Rocky Mount, who has the most -- amongst our membership, at least -- has the most platinum level designations for RP3. So we let the folks from Rocky Mount do a tabletop exercise with the other members to kind of pass along their learnings and understandings of the assessment and that process, so that summarizes what we did on the application side of things. But then once the decisions are posted and everything, analyzing your results is equally as important. So especially this time around, we focused a lot after the publication of the strategic plan to analyze the aggregate results for both SEP and RP3 for our members.
So what we really wanted to do was identify opportunities for our members to pick up the most points in the survey. So if there was one particular question or area that, for example, had a total of seven points and we saw that our members might be averaging about two points that's a big opportunity for improvement. So we tried to drill into what were the gaps there to get them a little closer to that 7.
But then also because this was again aligned with our strategic plan, we looked at the results and saw where the opportunities were to better align member performance with the objectives of our specific strategic plan.
So it was kind of two-fold. It wasn't just for the purpose of getting the designation, it was really how could we drive improvement in areas that were important to us? And then finally after all of that, we definitely wanted to celebrate the areas of excellence where we got a five out of five or what have you to show that, yeah, this is an area where we really excel.
So that was the analysis side of things and that gets me to program enhancements and [an] interesting thing a few weeks ago – I do quarterly reviews with my staff and I asked them how are we doing with regard to RP3 and SEP and they …went through this laundry list of, well, we've done all these things based on the results of the two evaluations.
I said, well, you’ve got to capture that in a white paper and send it to me. I want to circulate it. So this is kind of the result of that and hopefully later on as we get more into the data and everything, I'll have graphics and everything and data to share with APPA and all, but just a few examples here. Under storm response -- one of the programs we offer as a joint action agency is safety training to our members, linemen training and what have you, so we’ve got a pretty deep course catalog on training. One thing we didn't have was disaster drill preparation, so we launched a disaster drill training class.
So this isn't a tabletop, but it's just a class on how to prepare for -- in our area, specifically, hurricanes. It could be anything. And so we launched that class and started providing it to our members. Another area of weakness for us was research and development, so we did a number of things there. We developed a database of our DEED and grant activities so members could see what other members were doing in that area and give them some ideas.
We also developed a library of research studies and case studies that perhaps members could utilize and do further research on their own systems. For our key accounts program, which is another thing we do on behalf of our members for their larger customers -- For a long time, we've been publishing CO2 emissions for them, but in the RP3, I believe it specifically called out NOx and SOx sulfur dioxide emissions and so now we're incorporating that calculation into our emissions calculations.
We provided low cost options for our members to meet cybersecurity best practices and really what that is is a referral to other consultants because that's not a service we provide.
Customer service training was a big area where we could not only pick up a lot of points but again meet some of the objectives in our strategic plan. We offer a customer service training certificate program to our members, so we bolstered our marketing efforts amongst our members to ensure they were aware of that program and we've gotten more participation in that as a result.
We have also stepped up promotion of our energy audit program that we do and our customer portals that we assist our members when they install a new AMI or billing system and then we also do an energy efficiency rebate program for one of our power agencies.
So we focused efforts on getting the word out about those programs. And then the other thing that we're doing or we have been doing as part of the strategic plan is we have a strategic technology roadmap that we publish for our members to help guide them in their technology investments.
And then for ElectriCities, we have a services road map to help guide us in terms of what our members need in terms of services. So we've adjusted both of those roadmaps based on some of the findings of the results of the two assessments.
And then finally ElectriCities, as a membership organization, we have an association management system. We've only had it in place for about five or six years, but we are looking for ways to utilize that system to provide members with more information in areas that are relevant to the two assessments, but also to provide them better information on their participation in things like our training programs or our conferences or webinars to kind of demonstrate as they apply for these two assessments that they've actually sent people to these programs and they can document that.
So kind of a laundry list there, but it really has given us insight on how we can change our programs and how our members can focus on areas of improvement.
Paul Ciampoli
Thanks, Andy. No, that's really fascinating stuff, so thanks for sharing all those details with us. One quick follow-up question with respect to Rocky Mount and that tabletop exercise you mentioned -- do you envision that as kind of like a one-off or would that potentially be something that could occur occasionally with either Rocky Mount or other high performers?
Andy Fusco
I'm sure we would provide that as an ongoing preparation for applying for the two -- I believe that would be for RP3. We don't have one quite yet for SEP. I foresee us doing a similar sort of thing for SEP.
Paul Ciampoli
Andy, I wanted to give you the chance to talk about specific examples of the improvements that members of ElectriCities have experienced as a result of these efforts.
Andy Fusco
Yeah, where we had identified some areas where we could help -- areas where members have taken this -- the results of the assessments -- and run with it. There's a few here. First off is an increased utilization of -- I believe it's APPA’s eReliability tracker.
Obviously, reliability is a big aspect of RP3 and we had many of our members sign on to that and begin using that tool. I had mentioned in our findings where we identified R&D as a bit of a gap, so I have two examples here where members took quick action.
We had Clayton -- the town of Clayton -- and the City of High Point start efforts with North Carolina State University on gaining research grants for grid technology. We have a longstanding relationship with NC State, so they were able to work through us to get to that and kind of an interesting aside, North Carolina State University is a member of ElectriCities as a joint action agency because of the electric system they run on campus, so we have a really good partnership with them.
And the other initiative I'll point out that our members did again in the area of R&D is we had 10 members band together and do a joint proposal for a Jarvis grant earlier this year and this was to help them with some supply chain issues.
We’ve identified a vendor that partnered with us that could help us inventory key components for distribution systems across the membership. So that kind of saved on the amount of dollars you have in inventory and it also helps in terms of some of the supply chain constraints that we've been having coming out of COVID.
Paul Ciampoli
And forgive my ignorance on this, but what is the Jarvis grant refer to specifically?
Andy Fusco
It was a federal program where they were working to basically improve distribution systems’ efficiency in specific areas. This particular one was supply chain.
Paul Ciampoli
Andy, wrap up question for you. From your perspective, if another state or regional public power association wanted to pursue a similar approach with respect to utilizing the RP3 and Smart Energy Provider programs as assessment tools, what would you say are the key strategies it should adopt in terms of ensuring such an approach is successful?
Andy Fusco
I think I'll lead -- and I should have said this earlier -- but I think I'll lead with the fact that through these two programs, APPA has taken a lot of work off of the joint action agencies and we greatly appreciate it.
These are great tools and what they really allow utilities to do is benchmark themselves against other utilities across the country and beyond just that, though, there is a lot of work in collecting this data and so that's a real service that APPA provides to its members.
So with that, though, that allows us to then do the things we need to do as a result of these assessments. And the first thing -- and you know I don't want to sell this thing short -- is celebrate successes. If you're a joint action agency and you have a number of members who not only participate in these assessments but get designations like platinum or gold or what have you -- celebrate those successes.
That is a great way to go to the town council, City Council and give the utility an award and let the community really recognize the fact that that utility is a leader and providing superior service. So that is a very important thing that I'd say don't overlook.
Now that's something that would fall in a communications department than in my particular area in services, so I'm looking at the services side of that and how I can use this to help make our members better and as I went through before, a joint action agency is a great opportunity to provide utilities the assistance as I went through to just apply for the assessments.
As I said before, it's a lot of work. It's a service that a joint action agency can do and really ought to be doing in my opinion and it will really help your members because it just makes things more efficient. So that's another step in the process I'd highlight and then I would also emphasize that as you go into this, go into it with a continuous improvement mindset, OK, and part of this is sometimes it's hard to encourage utilities to change, to look for areas of improvement.
Many of our utilities -- as I'm sure is the case across the country -- have very minimal staff, very minimal funding. So when you talk about continuous improvement programs, that sort of thing, it sometimes doesn't receive a welcome because they're just so darn busy.
So make sure your members understand that point of view and give them good reason to follow through with it. So you know to that end I'd say don't short circuit analyzing the data in extreme detail as we have. Look for trends, look for outliers. See where you can find those areas of opportunity and improvement. If you have to, create a dashboard, there's lots of data visualization tools out there, Power BI being one of them.
That is a great way to identify these areas of improvement or areas where you really excel and then share that amongst your membership and then communicate the findings with your members. Do a webinar, do that sort of thing, so the word gets out there.
And then beyond that, just getting back to the fact that sometimes you’ve got to convince utilities to do this, demonstrate the value of going through the exercise, show where efficiencies have increased and folks have been able to save money and move resources in other areas of even higher value.
So tie it to a long-term goal or strategy and definitely tie it to money savings or areas of added value. That's what helped make it successful on our end.
Paul Ciampoli
And to your point in terms of from a macro level, I think looking beyond what we're talking about today, organizations such as ElectriCities, they can really play a great role in terms of helping its members have that as you said continuous improvement mindset, right?
Andy Fusco
Absolutely, yeah. And the one advantage as a joint action agency that we have is we'll see where maybe one particular utility encountered a great success or encountered a problem and then we can help pass that information along so people can make adjustments to either avoid the problem or take advantage of the benefits.
Paul Ciampoli
Yeah, definitely. Well, Andy, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us today and you have an open invitation to return as a guest at some point in the future. I'm sure you've got a lot of other things going on at ElectriCities. So I want to just throw that out there for your consideration.
Andy Fusco
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciated the opportunity. Thank you.
Paul Ciampoli
Sure thing. Thanks for listening to this episode of Public Power Now, which is produced by Julio Guerrero, Graphic and Digital Designer at APPA. I'm Paul Ciampoli, and we'll be back next week with more from the world of public power.
