APPA bestows highest award to Colorado Springs Utilities for 2020

We recently received the Diamond Award from the American Public Power Association (APPA). ​The Diamond award is the highest status awarded by APPA to utilities who demonstrate commitment to employees, customers and community.

The last - and only other time we received the award - was in 2018. The RP3 award recognizes our efforts to achieve the highest ratings among 274 of the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities. The award is earned from the APPA’s Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) Program for 2020.

RP3 recognizes public power utilities that demonstrate proficiency in four key disciplines.

• Reliability - Demonstrating the use of reliability indices to improve services and evidence of mutual aid agreements, a system-wide emergency response plan, and strong cyber and physical security practices.
• Safety - Demonstrating sound safety practices, manuals and training for employees and contractors.
• Workforce Development - Demonstrating staff attendance at industry conferences and workshops, access to educational and career development opportunities, are active on industry committees, and that we have workforce development and succession planning initiatives.
• System Improvement - Demonstrating reliability, safety, workforce development and system improvement.
  
  

We received a score of 98.5% - out of a possible 100% - which earned the Diamond Award designation. Only 47 utilities received the Diamond status this year, a designation that puts Colorado Springs Utilities among the most reliable public power providers in the nation. The honor is a testament to the efforts of our employees who deliver high-quality, dependable service every day to our residential and business customers.

It also means we’re among the best in the United States at maintaining our equipment and responding to outages when they do occur - restoring power quickly and safely in all kinds of weather conditions.

The American Public Power Association is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide. They represent public power before the federal government to protect the interests of the more than 49 million people that public power utilities serve, and the 93,000 people they employ.