Public Power Utilities Recognized by APPA for Reliability Efforts with Certificates of Excellence

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 5, 2023

The American Public Power Association has honored 219 public power utilities with a “Certificate of Excellence in Reliability” for reliable performance in 2022.

Utilities that are subscribers to APPA’s eReliability Tracker service are eligible to earn these certificates. To earn a certificate, a utility’s 2022 System Average Interruption Duration Index must fall in the top quartile of all utilities’ SAIDI numbers averaged from the past five years based on Energy Information Administration Form 861 survey data.

The certificates recognize utilities that have provided exceptionally reliable service and power to their communities.

“It’s encouraging to see year after year that public power’s track record for providing highly reliable service is backed up by data,” said APPA Director of Research and Development Paul Zummo. “These utilities are the best of the best when it comes to keeping the lights on. And these communities should be proud of their local power providers and appreciate the hard work that goes into earning this recognition.”

When looking at eReliability Tracker subscribers’ 2022 outage data, 91% of utilities that verified their 2022 outage data had a 2022 SAIDI that was below the average national SAIDI for 2017-2021 (according to EIA data). The data also includes investor-owned utilities and rural electric cooperatives.

This demonstrates that most public power utilities are above average in reliability when compared to all U.S. providers.

The list of winners is available at PublicPower.org.