THE DALLES — Northern Wasco County People's Utility District (NWCPUD) has earned the Certificate of Excellence in Reliability for 2025 from the American Public Power Association (APPA). The award recognizes exceptional electric reliability and NWCPUD is one of only two utilities in Oregon to receive it this year. APPA is a trade group that represents more than 2,000 not-for-profit, community-owned electric utilities.
APPA tracks power outage and restoration data for public utilities nationwide and each year compares that data to national statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Certificate of Excellence in Reliability is awarded to utilities that rank in the top 25% for shortest outage durations. This year, 312 utilities were benchmarked nationwide.
“This recognition reflects both the investment we’ve made in our system and the people who show up every day to keep it running,” said NWCPUD Chief Operating Officer Jeff Teel. “Our engineers and lineworkers take genuine pride in doing this work right, every single day. At the end of the day, our customer-owners are counting on us, and that’s what drives everything we do.”
Nationwide, the average public power customer has their lights out for less than half the amount of time that customers of other types of utilities do. In 2025, NWCPUD customer owners experienced an average of about 27 minutes of outage time, well below the national public power average of 55 minutes and significantly below the regional average of 134 minutes.
“I am continually inspired by the unwavering commitment of public power utilities to delivering reliable service to their communities,” said APPA Senior Vice President of Grid Security, Operations, and Technical Services Adrienne Lotto. “The utilities honored here have set the standard for excellence and dedication, ensuring that families and businesses can count on their local power providers every day. Congratulations to these outstanding teams for earning this well-deserved recognition and for making a positive difference where it matters most.”
For more information about Northern Wasco County PUD and its commitment to reliability, visit www.nwascopud.org.
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