This week is Public Power Week, and Danville Utilities reminds customers that it is nationally recognized as a Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3®), a designation for utilities that provide customers with the highest degree of reliable and safe electric service.
Danville Utilities was one of only 176 of the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities to earn the (RP3®) designation earlier this year from the American Public Power Association.
“RP3 utilities are serving their customers at the very highest level,” said Brent McKinney, manager, electric transmission and distribution at City Utilities of Springfield, Mo., and chair of APPA’s RP3 Review Panel. “These utilities have demonstrated that they are providing excellent service now as well as keeping their eyes forward on improvements for the future.”
McKinney presented the award to city officials during an APPA conference on April 16.
Danville Utilities also won for the second consecutive year the APPA’s Electric Utility Safety Award for safe operating practices. The utility earned first place among electric utilities with 110,000 to 249,000 worker-hours of annual worker exposure.
Public Power Week, Oct. 8-12, is a national, annual event sponsored by APPA and its members. APPA is the service organization for the more than 2,000 other publicly-owned electric utilities that collectively provide electricity on a not-for-profit basis to 46 million Americans.
Being a public power utility means that Danville Utilities is locally owned and operated and it provides local jobs and support of the economy. In addition, a public power utility serves as an important economic development tool because the utility and the city government are one and the same, thus providing “one-stop shopping” regarding water, sewer, electric services, tax rates, etc.
A tradition that began in 1986, this year APPA and its members celebrate the 26th anniversary of Public Power Week.
Danville Utilities provides natural gas, water, wastewater and telecommunications services in Danville and distributes electricity to approximately 42,000 customer locations in a 500-square-mile service territory covering Danville, the southern third of Pittsylvania County, and small portions of Henry and Halifax counties.