Four decades of power

“It would be a kind of utopia,” Langer said.

Not long after, he read an advertisement for the job at Northern Wasco County PUD, which met all of those requirements. He sent in his resume and was selected. Looking back over a 43-year career in the utility industry, he says the move was a good choice.

Langer’s career actually dates back almost 50 years, to his 16th summer, when his father told him that if he wasn’t going to play baseball he was going to get a job. Thanks to his father’s introduction to the general manager of Peru Utilities, Langer went to work on the electric construction and maintenance crew. He worked summers on the crew through high school and college.

He might have become a journeyman lineman had General Manager Ralph Kerns not put him to work in public relations in February of 1973. In 1985, Langer became the general manager of Peru Utilities at the age of 35. When he left in 1993, Peru had the fourth-lowest rates in the state.

SERVICE AWARD

He used the skills and experience gained in Peru to good effect over the next almost 23 years, if his Outstanding Special District Service Award at the Special Districts Association of Oregon Conference is any indication.

His nomination, prepared by the PUD staff and board, offers a long list of PUD accomplishments under Langer’s leadership:

• Two platinum and two gold RP3 awards since 2007, which put the PUD in the top tier of the nation’s 2,000 public utilities in terms of reliability, safety, workforce development and system improvement.

• System growth from 29 average megawatts to 70 average megawatts.

• Completion of one of the PUD’s two hydropower projects on the Columbia River with total output of 10 average megawatts available to the PUD. Both projects are carbon-free and provide renewable energy credits to the PUD.

• An upgrade from an A3 to an A1 revenue bond rating in 2013 by Moody’s Investors Service.

• Achieved debt-free status in July of this year after paying off more than $15 million in debt obligations since 1998. This is the first time the PUD has had no debt in 67 years.

• Established the Economic Development Grant Program for projects that enhance “economic development, quality of life and spirit of all within our community.” Grants totaling $572,862 have been awarded to 44 organizations within the PUD district.

• Conducted what was possibly the PUD’s first cost of service study and restructured rates as a result.

“Dwight has the foresight to identify future needs,” the nomination stated. “He prefers to be proactive rather than reactive. He championed the development of the Five Year Capital Improvement Plan, which is updated annually. This allows the PUD to analyze current and future needs in preparation for the annual budget process. This document helps ensure that identified projects are dealt with when necessary to maintain the high level reliability standard that Northern Wasco County People’s Utility District is known for.”

After seeing the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, Langer also championed the development of the PUD’s Emergency Response and Restoration Plan and other documents that spell out how to address emergencies and national disasters.

CORE VALUES

“Dwight has been such a great leader in our utility over the last 22 years and the electric industry in general,” said Kathy McBride, Langer’s executive assistant and media manager. “He is very supportive of our staff and the community that we serve. Our customers have been very fortunate to have had a general manager that truly believes and lives by the district’s core values and beliefs.”

“Dwight has been a real joy to work for,” added Verna Lousignont, IT Department manager. “Whoever the gentleman is who is taking his place is going to have big shoes to fill.”

Kurt Conger, whose position as the director of power supply transmission and regulatory policy was created in 2012, knew of Langer long before he joined the staff. Conger has worked in public power since the 1980s and became familiar with Langer’s name in the 1990s while working with the Indiana Municipal Power Agency, which Langer helped establish. Later, while working for Grid West, he consulted with the PUD on power issues before joining the staff.

“He reaffirmed the strong public power culture at Northern Wasco County PUD,” Conger said, of local governance on behalf of the customers served, rather than on behalf of distant investors. And that belief factors into his work philosophy, he added.

“Dwight likes to empower people to work for him and do their best while providing guidance along the way,” Conger said. “That’s the best way to work, as opposed to having a large bureaucracy and hierarchy that requires a slow decision-making process.”

Providing growth opportunities was a consistent theme among staff members.

“He looked for the best in everybody and provided opportunities for the people that worked with him, and we appreciate that,” said Paul Titus, PUD assistant manager.

Titus laughed recalling one of Langer’s speaking habits.

“Dwight would get on a soapbox and would be very passionate about what he was discussing, then he would end with ‘that information and 50 cents can get you a pop in the lunchroom.’”

Titus said the PUD loses more than a leader with Langer’s retirement.

BEYOND LEADERSHIP

“He’s been a friend to all of us here and there’s a friend going away,” he said.

PUD Directors Howard Gonser and Barbara Nagle are the longest serving members of the PUD’s board and have worked with Langer the longest.

“Finding someone to fill Dwight’s position was very stressful,” Nagle said. “He has done such a fine job as general manager of our utility. The culture that has been created, his leadership abilities, his expertise in hiring and training our excellent staff have all been outstanding, in my opinion. We’ve all hated to have him leave, but certainly wish him and Donna a great retirement and the enjoyment they deserve.”

Gonser praised Langer’s ability to evaluate people and their potential.

“I think people get excited about that,” he said. “They are grateful and excited to be given the opportunity to step up and be a bigger contributor to the whole team approach.”

Under Langer’s direction, the PUD has become increasingly involved in organizations focusing on future power and transmission needs.

“I think he has a true vision of energy for the future,” Gonser said. “He’s always looking down the road. He looks to the future and the baseline growth that we will need to have.”

Gonser has traveled to training and conferences with Langer and Dan Williams, current board president, many times over the past years.

“You really get an understanding of the person, the personality, the belief system and the core values when you are in that situation,” Gonser said. “Dwight has done a pretty impressive job for the community and the utility.”

Williams points to the culture that Langer has fostered at the PUD.

“It’s a culture of loyalty and cooperation amongst all the staff,” Williams said. “There are no turf battles and he has an ability to hire people with integrity. They don’t have to know how to do everything when he hires them, but when they have a good work ethic and integrity they can learn and advance.”

Williams recalls a recent meeting of the Oregon Public Utility Districts Association when Langer was awarded the Rock Solid Award, a distinction usually reserved for federal legislators, and the prestige it signifies.

“One of the things that has been just amazing to me since I was first on the board is here you have this little utility out of 120 or so on the BPA system with less than 10,000 customers, that was, until just recently, the smallest PUD in Oregon with the second-lowest rates in Oregon,” Williams said. “When Dwight got up to speak, there was far more attention paid, credibility paid than what you would expect.”

Jim Foster, the PUD’s long-time attorney, describes Langer as a man of character and integrity.

“When he takes a position on an issue, whether it’s a local PUD issue or a regional electrical industry issue or a national energy issue, he does so after significant thought about what he’s going to say and how he’s going to say it — and with a lot of integrity in the sense that I have never heard him take a position I thought was taken for any purpose other than the people in the community and the availability of low-cost energy.

“He’s passionate, but not in an uncontrolled way. He’s passionate in a way that comes from a lot of intelligence, a lot of understanding of the issues and a lot of hard work.”

PARTNERSHIPS

Langer also is praised by the PUD’s community and industry partners.

“Dwight always thinks first on behalf of the greater good,” said Dan Spatz, a The Dalles city councilor and long-time member of The Dalles Community Outreach team. “He is a true community partner. The power of the Outreach team comes in having people speak on behalf of projects in which their own organizations do not have an obvious stake. Thus Dwight would speak on behalf of a school, city or college priority, which carries far more weight than the same message coming from one of those entities.”

John Saben of Northwest Requirements Utilities, a trade association that works on supply and transmission issues on behalf of utilities served by Bonneville Power Administration in seven states, calls Langer one of the organization’s strongest supporters.

“He has been one of the champions of us putting together an organization of smaller utilities to allow them to develop their own [power] resources in the future,” Saben said. “I can’t say enough for all the hard work he put in to get other PUDs and municipals and co-ops in the Northwest to join that organization. He has been extremely beneficial to us and to the region.”

Looking back on his tenure at the PUD, Langer saw lots of change and numerous challenges. One of the biggest was the energy crisis of 2000-2001 as a result of Enron’s market manipulation. The PUD was exposed, both through Bonneville Power Administration and through its own energy purchases.

“We had anticipated savings of $1 million a year, but Enron changed that,” Langer said.

As a result, rates increased dramatically, which Langer said rightfully upset customers.

“But we learned from that,” he said. Now the PUD places greater emphasis on risk analysis and mitigation.

COMING TOGETHER

One of Langer’s prouder moments — actually years in the making — was bringing the PUD’s staff together under one roof at the PUD’s River Road offices. They had been divided between two locations, downtown business offices and West Second Street operations. The decision to move wasn’t taken lightly. It involved exploration and planning over the course of four or five years.

Langer is most proud of the trust placed in the PUD.

“The relationship we have with the community, the competitiveness of our rates, and our reputation in the electric industry I think are very good, very strong,” he said. “The dedication of staff and the employees is to providing adequate supplies of energy at affordable prices.”

Langer’s last day with the PUD will be Dec. 15. He and his wife, Donna, have built a home in Richland, Wash., where they can be close to their children and grandchildren.