One hundred eighteen of the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities earned the Reliable Public Power Provider designation from the American Public Power Association for providing reliable and safe electric service, the Association reported on April 30.
Neil James, Manager of Distribution Operations at Santee Cooper in South Carolina and chair of the Association’s RP3 Review Panel, presented the designations on April 30 during the Association’s annual Engineering & Operations Technical Conference in Raleigh, N.C.
The RP3 designation lasts for three years and recognizes public power utilities that demonstrate proficiency in four key disciplines: reliability, safety, workforce development and system improvement. Criteria include sound business practices and a utility-wide commitment to safe and reliable delivery of electricity.
This year, 118 utilities earned the designation and, in total, 254 of the more than 2,000 public power utilities nation-wide hold the RP3 designation.
This is the thirteenth year that RP3 recognition has been offered. A full list of designees is available here.
Safety awards
Meanwhile, one hundred eight public power utilities have earned the Association’s Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2017.
Duane Richardson, Chair of the Association’s Safety Committee and Transmission and Distribution Superintendent at Crawfordsville Electric Light and Power in Indiana, presented the award during the E&O Technical Conference.
“Electric utilities value safety above all else,” said Richardson. “The utilities receiving this award have demonstrated exceptional dedication to a culture of safety.”
Over 300 utilities entered the annual Safety Awards, which is the highest number of entrants in the history of the program.
Entrants were placed in categories according to their number of worker hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records during 2017.
The incidence rate, used to judge entries, is based on the number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses and the number of worker-hours during 2017, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The Safety Awards have been held annually for the last 59 years.
A complete list of winners is available here.
