MPUA hometown utilities earn national awards for exemplary service

Hometown utilities receive 2024 RP3 designations for reliability and safety

Six MPUA member hometown electric utilities earned 2024 Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) designations from the American Public Power Association for providing reliable and safe electric service. As announced by APPA on April 8, the utilities were among 91 of the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities that earned a 2024 RP3 designation from APPA.

The MPUA cities earning RP3 designations this year from APPA were:

2024 Missouri designations:

• Columbia Water & Light (Gold level, 2024)
• Hannibal Board of Public Works (Platinum level, 2024)
• City of Harrisonville Electric Dept. (Gold level, 2024)
• Kennett Board of Public Works (Platinum level, 2024)
• Macon Municipal Utilities (Diamond level, 2024)
• City of Monett (Gold level, 2024)
  

The RP3 designation lasts for three years, recognizing public power utilities that have demonstrated their proficiency in four key disciplines: reliability, safety, workforce development and system improvement.

Earning APPA’s RP3 badge-of-honor involves a rigorous process proving a utility’s sound management practices and a utility-wide commitment to safe and reliable delivery of electricity.

“Receiving an RP3 designation is a great honor signifying a utility has demonstrated commitment to industry best practices,” said Jeremy Ash, Chair of APPA’s RP3 Review Panel and Chief Operating Officer at Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, Kansas. "And ultimately, the culture developed from this pursuit of excellence and continued improvement through the RP3 program results in measurable value delivered to the local community.”

This is the nineteenth year that RP3 recognition has been offered. In total, 254 public power utilities nationwide currently hold the RP3 designation.

Fifteen MPUA member electric utilities (14-Missouri and 1-Arkansas) now hold RP3 designations awarded in the past three years. The full list of all MPUA hometown utilities that hold the RP3 includes:

2024 Missouri designations:

• Columbia Water & Light (Gold level, 2024)
• Hannibal Board of Public Works (Platinum level, 2024)
• City of Harrisonville Electric Dept. (Gold level, 2024)
• Kennett Board of Public Works (Platinum level, 2024)
• Macon Municipal Utilities (Diamond level, 2024)
• City of Monett (Gold level, 2024)

2023 Missouri designations:

• Carthage Water & Electric Plant (Diamond level, 2023)
• City of Fulton (Gold level, 2023)
• Independence Power & Light (Diamond level, 2023)
• Marshall Municipal Utilities (Platinum level, 2023)
• Nixa Municipal Utilities (Platinum level, 2023)
• City Utilities of Springfield (Gold level, 2023)
  

2022 Missouri designations:

• Rolla Municipal Utilities (Gold level, 2022)
• Jackson Municipal Utilities (Gold level, 2022)
  

2023 Arkansas designations:

•  Conway Corporation (AR) (Diamond level, 2023)

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Seven MPUA hometown electric utilities earn APPA safety awards of excellence

APPA also announced on April 9 that MPUA member utilities at Carthage, Hannibal, Independence, Kennett, Marshall and Springfield, as well as Conway, AR were among 145 public power systems nationwide that earned the association’s Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices during 2023.

APPA said that more than 160 utilities entered the annual safety awards for 2023. Entrants were placed in categories according to their number of worker-hours and ranked based on the incident-free records and overall state of their safety programs and culture during 2023. A utility’s 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 2023, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The safety awards have been held annually for more than 65 years.

Hometown utilities earn national recognition for reliability records

On April 8 the American Public Power Association (APPA) recognized 15 MPUA member hometown utilities with a “Certificate of Excellence in Reliability” for reliable performance in 2023. The utilities were among 244 utilities nationwide that earned APPA eReliability recognition for their 2023 operations.

Member utilities honored included twelve in Missouri and three in Arkansas. The Missouri utilities were from Chillicothe, Columbia, Harrisonville, Higginsville, Independence, Macon, Marshall, Monett, Nixa, Rolla, Shelbina and Waynesville.

Three of MPUA's Arkansas member communities also earned these national "E-Reliability" honors -- Clarksville Connected Utilities, Conway Corporation, and the City of Siloam Springs.

 Every year, APPA recognizes the highest-scoring utilities that subscribe to the eReliability Tracker data tracking tool to document reliability data. The certificates recognize utilities that provided exceptionally reliable service and power to their communities, shown by comparing their outage records against nationwide data gathered by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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