Public Power - June 2008 - (Page 10)

PERSPECTIVE Reliable Public Power Providers Grow in Stature and Numbers By Mark Crisson • President & CEO • American Public Power Association APPA’sexemplifiesPublic Power Provider Reliable program all that is great about local public ownership of electric utilities. Utilities applying for “RP3®” designation must measure their operations against a lengthy list of criteria in four areas: (1) reliability (2) safety, (3) electric system improvement, and (4) training. The inaugural group of RP3 winners were announced at APPA’s Engineering & Operations Conference in 2006. The RP3 award is not a lifetime designation—it lasts only two years. Utilities that want to maintain their reliability “bragging rights” must apply for RP3 designation every two years. In 2006, 64 utilities earned RP3 designation. Of that group, 59 applied again for 2008 and successfully renewed their status as reliable providers of electricity service. They were joined this year by another 25 utilities that were awarded the RP3 designation. In 2007, 48 utilities earned RP3 designation. Right now 132 utilities in the United States are Reliable Public Power Providers. North Carolina, with 74 public power utilities, has the largest number of RP3 utilities—29. Ohio has 12, Tennessee has 10 and Wisconsin and Missouri each have 8. RP3 designation gives utilities the opportunity to take inventory of their practices in reliability, safety, system improvement and training and to identify areas for improvement that will boost the utility’s reliability rating. Once a utility achieves RP3 recognition, it can showcase its good work to customers and neighboring utilities. This is achieved through recognition in national and local media, by displaying the RP3 logo on utility invoices, vehicles, business cards, Web sites 10 JUNE 2008 and elsewhere. RP3 utilities can also distribute shirts, coffee mugs, pins and other items to employees, celebrating the utility’s achievement and reminding them of the ongoing need to maintain and improve the utility’s reliability. The designation has helped public power utilities reduce insurance costs. Indianola Municipal Utilities in Iowa saw its worker compensation premiums fall by 25 percent after it documented all it had done to qualify for RP3. The application form for the 2009 RP3 award is posted on the APPA Web site, APPAnet.org. Utilities awarded RP3 designation in 2007 will need to re-apply to keep their status in 2009. First-time applicants should download and review the application now and determine what steps they need to take to complete their application by the September deadline. RP3 applications, which are confidential, are reviewed first by APPA staff—Engineering Vice President Michael Hyland, who played a key role in creating the program, and Director of Engineering & Operations Nathan Mitchell, who manages it. A few weeks later, applications are reviewed by a “SWAT team” consisting of current or past members of the RP3 Review Panel. If these preliminary reviewers identify missing information, they alert the filing utility to the need for more information before the formal review of applications in December. The 15-member RP3 Review Panel is composed of public power utility experts in human resources, system planning, safety, and transmission and distribution, as well as representatives of small, medium and large public power utilities (as defined by the number of customers at less than 5,000; between 5,000 and 30,000 and more than 30,000). The panel members apply their expertise to their review of the checklists in the application and assign a score to each applicant. RP3 awards are by no means automatic once the application is submitted. Utilities must meet at least 80 percent of the criteria to win RP3 recognition at the gold level. If a utility meets 90 percent of the criteria, it earns platinum RP3 designation. Utilities that meet 100 percent of the criteria qualify for diamond level RP3 designation. The diversity of utility size among public power utilities and RP3 applicants is important. Large utilities, for example, have much greater resources at their disposal for providing staff training or making capital improvements. However, larger utilities find it more challenging than smaller utilities to coordinate the data collection necessary to document RP3 criteria. These differences are carefully considered by the review panel. The program is only in its fourth year and therefore still in a shakeout period. Utilities have objected to the tougher standards imposed on the program each year. RP3 is, above all, a benchmarking program. When the highest achievers in the competition introduce new ways to improve distribution system reliability, they effectively challenge all utilities to make similar improvements. It is important to raise the bar on reliability as technology and practices improve. But it is likewise understandable that utilities striving to meet this important challenge have adequate advance notice about tougher requirements. The RP3 Review Panel has heard those concerns and is adjusting the timetable for introducing changes to accommodate those concerns. Participation in RP3 is an excellent way for our member systems to continually improve their quality of service. The number of utilities participating in RP3 grew this year by 39 percent over our inaugural year. I hope to see growth at least that robust in 2009. ❚ PUBLIC POWER http://APPAnet.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - June 2008

Public Power - June 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions Finding Common Ground on Climate Change Solutions A Patchwork Approach to Renewable Energy Whose Grid Is It Anyway? The Little Utility That Could Benchmarking Customer Service Can Prairie Hay Power Your Town? Storming the Control Room Investing in the Smart Grid Coming of Age: Superconducting Cables Community Broadband Economic Development Customer Service Human Resources For Governing Boards Safety Parting Shot

Public Power - June 2008

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