Florida Municipal Power Agency recently recognized municipal electric utilities with Florida Public Power Reliability Awards for the first time, honoring the utilities’ achievements in delivering reliable electricity to their customers.
The Agency presented the awards at its Board of Directors meeting on July 23 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
The Florida Public Power Reliability Awards include four award types recognizing different reliability metrics among four size-based categories. The categories designate the utilities as small, medium, large, or extra large based on the number of utility meters. The 15 recognized utilities received a total of 29 awards.
“Our Members strive every day to fulfill our mission to provide low-cost, reliable power, so we felt it was time to recognize them for their tremendous achievements,” said Jacob Williams, general manager and CEO of FMPA. “These municipal utilities have gone above and beyond to provide an invaluable service to their communities, and their triumphs cannot be understated. We hope to continue to see even more growth within this program as our public power utilities continue to become more reliable.”
Four utilities received the Leadership Award, which recognizes the utility with the lowest annual average outage duration. The winning utilities by category are:
• Small: City of Wauchula
• Medium: Winter Park Electric Utility
• Large: Keys Energy Services
• Extra Large: Kissimmee Utility Authority
Four utilities received the Momentum Award, which recognizes the utility with the greatest percentage decrease in annual average outage duration. The winning utilities by category are:
• Small: City of Mount Dora Electric Utility
• Medium: Winter Park Electric Utility
• Large: Lake Worth Beach Electric Utility
• Extra Large: City of Tallahassee
Nine utilities received the Endurance Award, which recognizes utilities for maintaining an annual average outage duration of 60 minutes or less for consecutive years. The winning utilities by category are:
Small
o City of Alachua – 2 years
o City of Starke Utilities – 3 years
o City of Wauchula – 5 years
Medium
o Winter Park Electric Utility – 9 years
Large
o Beaches Energy Services – 11 years
o Keys Energy Services – 3 years
Extra Large
o Gainesville Regional Utilities – 3 years
o Kissimmee Utility Authority – 11 years
o Orlando Utilities Commission – 4 years
Twelve utilities received the Duration Award, which recognizes utilities with an annual outage duration reduction of 10% or more. The winning utilities by category are:
Small
o City of Alachua
o City of Mount Dora Electric Utility
o City of Wauchula
o Clewiston Utilities
Medium
o Winter Park Electric Utility
Large
o Fort Pierce Utilities Authority
o Keys Energy Services
o Lake Worth Beach Electric Utility
Extra Large
o City of Tallahassee Electric and Gas Utility
o Kissimmee Utility Authority
o Ocala Electric Utility
o Orlando Utilities Commission
This is the first year FMPA has presented the awards, and the Agency’s Member Services Advisory Committee developed the program.
“Our Members work very hard, and they’re proud of how well everyone within their individual utilities serves their customers,” said Sharon Adams, chief people and member services officer at FMPA. “Residents and customers know they can count on their hometown utilities every day for reliable and available electric service. We are delighted to recognize each of them for their consistent efforts and achievements.”
