November 15, 2024

Award of Merit recognizes WPPI Energy campaign focused on the ‘People of Public Power’

Business

Without the people, there would be no public power.

This is the focus of a project spearheaded in 2024 by WPPI Energy to highlight utility individuals.

People of Public Power was curated to tell the story of those behind locally owned electric utilities. The focus is on employees and leaders of the 51 utilities that make up WPPI’s membership. And now, the yearlong endeavor has received national recognition by earning an Award of Merit during American Public Power Association’s Customer Connections Conference in Louisville.

“These are dedicated individuals, determined to aid in the success of not only their municipal utility, but to the community they serve,” said Anne Rodriguez, assistant vice president of Communications and Rates for WPPI Energy. “It’s the people behind these public power utilities who make it all happen.”

The award was presented Oct. 30.

WPPI Energy began in 1980 with the leaders of 32 municipal utilities. These communities wanted affordable wholesale power and more local control of their own energy future, and so, created a new entity modeled on joint action. Together through WPPI they developed their own power supply, forged their own space within the electric industry and advocated for their own needs. More than 40 years later, the shared strength of what is now 51 locally owned electric utilities that make up WPPI’s membership throughout Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan’s UP has become more effective than ever.

Social media posts and written works within WPPI Energy’s Annual Report emphasize this through the eyes of everyday people working to keep the lights on and taking pride in the community they serve. They vary from a father and son working together on transmission lines, proud to be the people that keep the energy flowing through the powerlines within their small town, to decadeslong civil servants focused on providing reliable, affordable and responsible power to residents as well as an expanding industrial footprint in their community.

From the friendly city with a German nickname to a village proud of its trolls, each community has a specific quality that people like the utility director, billing specialists and lineworkers take pride in emphasizing through either written words and a photo or in a video clip showing off local landmarks.

“People of Public Power focuses on local utilities,” Rodriguez said. “Municipally owned electric utilities are trustworthy, forward-thinking and good for the local economy. They are also community focused, and that shows through the workers who serve their neighbors, friends and maybe even family. These are the people who power homes and make the community a better place to live.”

 

Pictured: Senior Communications Manager Jen Dickman and Communications Coordinator Bridget Cooke