On June 3, the Sun Prairie City Council unanimously approved Jill Weiss to serve as General Manager of Wisconsin public power utility Sun Prairie Utilities, following the unanimous recommendation from the SPU Commission at a special meeting held on May 22.
Weiss has over 15 years of public utility experience. Weiss currently serves as the utilities director for Stoughton Utilities and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations, managing an annual budget of approximately $25 million and spearheading efforts to improve operational efficiency.
During her time at Stoughton, she led high-impact initiatives, including developing and executing a Strategic Alignment Plan and establishing strong community relations with a robust customer engagement strategy to ensure transparent and responsive communication.
Prior to serving in this role, Weiss served as distribution system operations supervisor with Alliant Energy and has held key leadership roles in Jefferson as utility manager and city engineer/director of public works.
During her time with Alliant Energy, she supervised the operations of the distribution system, mitigated electric and gas emergencies, as well as outages and restoration and led the restructuring of the Distribution Dispatch Center into the Distribution System Operations.
Weiss will officially step into the role on July 21 and spend her time becoming integrated in the community by building relationships with elected officials, SPU commissioners, city staff and community members.
“As I begin this new opportunity with Sun Prairie Utilities, I’m looking forward to being part of an organization so deeply rooted in serving our community and our customers,” said Weiss. “My immediate focus is on strengthening the trusted service our customers rely on, investing in the infrastructure that provides high-quality drinking water and reliable electrical service that powers our city.”
She currently serves on the WPPI Energy Executive Committee, WPPI Energy Board of Directors, WPPI Energy Rates Services Advisory Group, and the Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin Board of Directors.
“We are excited to welcome Jill to the Sun Prairie Utilities team,” said Jeff Christenson, chair of the SPU Commission. “Her history of strong leadership, talent development and industry influence will position the utility well in our efforts to be a leader amongst municipal utilities.”
“I look forward to working with Jill as our new general manager and would like to extend my gratitude to the Sun Prairie Utilities Commission for their support throughout this process,” said Aaron Oppenheimer, city administrator. “Jill has demonstrated her commitment to delivering reliable utility services, prioritizing safety and building community relations.”
SPU provides electricity to over 18,000 customers and water to over 12,000 customers, primarily within city limits.
As the utility’s general manager, Weiss will be responsible for the overall operations, regulatory compliance, future planning and financial management of SPU. She joins at a pivotal time as the organization is set to complete its new operations facility at the end of the year.
“I am excited to support the talented staff that makes it all possible,” said Weiss. “Together, we’ll continue building a utility that’s not only reliable but also responsive and deeply connected to the people of Sun Prairie.”
