Green Bay — Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) is being honored among the nation’s best, receiving two 2021 ReliabilityOne® Awards from PA Consulting for providing outstanding service to its customers. The first award is for achieving the greatest improvement in reliability, while the second award recognizes the company for superior customer engagement.
“Providing affordable, reliable and clean energy to our customers is at the heart of every decision we make,” said Tom Metcalfe, president — WPS. “These awards show the dedication our employees have to enhancing reliability and delivering world-class service to our customers.”
Unique approach to reducing power outages
The Most Improved award, presented by PA Consulting, recognizes utilities that have seen significant and sustained improvements in their efforts to keep the lights on for their customers. WPS was named this year’s award recipient for consistently high levels of reliability with its electric distribution system during the past five years.
A key part of WPS’ work to increase reliability has been the innovative System Modernization and Reliability Project (SMRP). This eight-year effort has reduced power outages across northeast and north central Wisconsin by replacing overhead lines with more than 2,000 miles of underground cables. The project has improved reliability by more than 95% in areas where power lines have been buried.
WPS also has focused on upgrading equipment to better pinpoint the locations of outages when they occur. This means a faster response when something goes wrong and less time customers are without power.
Helping customers stay connected
PA Consulting also recognized WPS with the 2021 Outstanding Customer Engagement award for having the best overall approach for communicating with its customers about power outages and when they will be restored. The company uses multiple platforms, including the WPS app, website and social media, to deliver real-time outage information to customers in the channel that works best for them.
“For 21 years, the ReliabilityOne® Awards have highlighted outstanding electric utility providers who are focused on resiliently building a more positive future for their customers,” said Gregg Edeson, PA Consulting’s ReliabilityOne® program director. “We are pleased to name WPS as an industry leader for delivering outstanding service and restoration efforts while balancing customer needs and optimizing investments.”
Award details
All utilities operating electric delivery networks in North America are eligible for consideration for the ReliabilityOne® Awards. The selection of provisional recipients is based primarily on system reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of customer outages. After provisional recipients are selected, each company undergoes a certification process, which provides an independent review and confirmation of the policies, processes and systems used to collect, analyze and report a company’s reliability results.
About Wisconsin Public Service
Wisconsin Public Service is a utility subsidiary of WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC). The company serves approximately 453,000 electric and 336,000 natural gas customers in northeastern and north central Wisconsin. Visit wisconsinpublicservice.com.
About PA Consulting
We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future in a technology-driven world. As strategies, technologies and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity. Our diverse teams of experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough use of technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results. An innovation and transformation consultancy, we are 3,300 specialists in consumer and manufacturing, defense and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport. Our people are strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers and technologists. We operate globally from offices across the UK, US, Netherlands and Nordics. Discover more at paconsulting.com and connect with PA on LinkedIn and Twitter. PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.
PA Consulting’s ReliabilityOne® awards are presented to electric utilities providing their customers with the highest levels of reliability in the industry. PA Consulting’s ReliabilityOne® study is based on standard industry reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of electric power outages. ReliabilityOne® participants on average experienced 44% fewer sustained outages, and outages were 55% shorter than the average US investor-owned utility. PA Consulting has been analyzing electric utility performance since 1987. For more information about PA Consulting, visit www.paconsulting.com/energy.