This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Longmont Power & Communications customers continue to enjoy some of the most reliable electric power in the country, with fewer and shorter outages than the vast majority of U.S. utilities, according to the American Public Power Association.
LPC was one of 141 public power utilities nationwide to receive a certificate of excellence from the APPA, based on 2019 data provided by the Energy Information Administration. That honor was received by only 7% of the community-owned public power utilities represented by the APPA.
Like many electric services across the country, LPC has been making adjustments to provide suitable social distancing for its employees and customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. But even in the midst of that, LPC Executive Director David Hornbacher said, Longmont’s century-old tradition of dependable public power has continued.
“At a time when our residents and our nation are going through so much uncertainty, we’re proud to keep providing electric service that our community can rely on,” Hornbacher said. “We appreciate the honor from APPA, and we’re even more grateful to our residents and businesses who use our electricity to make a stronger Longmont, whether in crisis or calm.”
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A typical LPC customer can go about 22 months without seeing an outage, and some have experienced none at all. Customers who did experience an outage typically saw the power come back on in about 45 minutes, according to the 2019 stats.
LPC has also been recognized as a Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) since 2006 and currently holds a Diamond rating, the highest that APPA can award. It was the first utility in Colorado to receive RP3 recognition.
“Community-owned public power utilities have an excellent record when it comes to reliability,” said Alex Hofmann, the APPA’s senior director of energy and environmentalservices, in announcing the certificates of excellence. “These utilities are the best of the best when it comes to keeping the lights on in their communities.”
