ALBEMARLE — The city of Albemarle revealed last week that it has been awarded for the quality of its electrical utility system.
In a Sept. 10 media release, city officials announced that Albemarle was recently honored with three Public Power Awards of Excellence from ElectriCities of North Carolina, signifying recognitions in the categories of Future-focused, Strengthen Public Power, and People.
“It took great teamwork from our entire electric staff to once again earn Public Power Awards of Excellence,” said Jay Voyles, director of public utilities for the City of Albemarle. “These awards demonstrate the city’s commitment to efficient, reliable service that benefits our community now and in the years to come. I thank our team for their work to continually make Albemarle a leading provider of public power.”
ElectriCities is a membership organization that provides power supply and other related services to more than 90 community-owned electric systems in the Carolinas and Virginia.
The awards given by the organization are designed to reflect public power’s strategic priorities and to recognize exceptional achievement.
“This year’s Public Power Awards of Excellence recipients are shining examples of the value of public power,” said ElectriCities CEO Roy Jones. “These outstanding communities prioritize local needs and put their customers first as they develop innovative solutions to provide safe, reliable power with superior service. We’re honored to celebrate these communities, and we’re grateful for all they do to provide value to their customers.”
Albemarle’s Future-focused award is an honor for communities that “develop a forward-thinking mindset.”
In this instance, the city was celebrated for its LED streetlight replacement program that enhanced energy efficiency and improved street visibility, an electric line replacement project for approximately 4.5 miles of primary electric lines, and a new customer information and utility billing system that will soon track energy consumption in real time.
Through the rollout of that system, the city will aim to allow public power customers to track and adjust their daily usage in order to put more money back into their wallets.
For the city’s Strengthen Public Power award, Albemarle was recognized for its various outreach efforts, including lineworker visits to local schools, customer appreciation gifts during Public Power Week, utility bill inserts, and social media posts.
Lastly, in the People award category, the city was honored for “leveraging its people as its greatest asset” through both the ElectriCities Apprentice Lineworker Program and Stanly Community College’s Electrical Lineworker Training Program.
The former is a comprehensive program that allows lineworkers to obtain their journeyman card — nationally recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor — as a mastery-level certification for professionals, while the latter is a 12-week program where students are instructed by City of Albemarle Electric Division staff to learn the critical labor skills of the electrical power distribution systems.
According to information provided by the city, nearly 1.3 million people in over 70 cities and towns across North Carolina get their electricity from public power providers; these public power communities which own their electric systems have the ability to maintain local control and decision making over their operations.