Bonds and Financing
Fitch Ratings has upgraded the Long Island Power Authority to an “A+” rating with a stable outlook, a significant improvement from the previous “A” rating with a positive outlook, LIPA said on July 23.
Grid Modernization
The American Public Power Association’s Board of Directors recently approved changes to the Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments program’s policy manual, including changes to the DEED dues structure and a new trademarked program logo.
Bills and Rates
Nebraska public power utility Omaha Public Power District’s electricity rates are among the lowest in the region and in the nation, as detailed in an OPPD annual monitoring report that the OPPD Board of Directors accepted at this month’s meeting.
Distributed Energy Resources
Lincoln Electric System has announced plans to decommission the two oldest wind generators in Nebraska, located in northeast Lincoln.
Transmission
The New York Power Authority and LS Power have submitted joint proposals to the New York Independent System Operator in response to an April 4 Public Policy Transmission Need solicitation to deliver offshore wind generation into New York City.
Susan Lynch, Director, Database Systems & Analysis at the American Public Power Association and the longest serving employee in APPA’s history, will retire on July 1, 2024.
Customer Service
Utilities can create and send personalized emergency messages through Message Broadcast’s communications platform, Enterprise Omnichannel Notification System. The platform can increase the speed of communication by over 80% and help utilities keep customers informed and safe during emergencies.
Distributed Energy Resources
A ribbon-cutting event took place on June 18 in Tunica County, Mississippi, to mark the completion of the first utility-scale wind generation facility in the state, the Delta Wind project.
Reliability
Washington State’s Chelan PUD avoided several outages over the last few months since it finished upgrading more than 50,000 electric meters with advanced metering infrastructure, PUD staff reported to PUD commissioners.
Bonds and Financing
The Fayetteville Public Works Commission, a North Carolina public power utility, recently received national recognition for financial reporting with two awards from the Government Finance Officers Association.