Safety Record Recognized
Greenville Utilities’ safety record was recognized twice recently.
APPA
We received the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) safety award for 2023. This honor recognizes utilities' incident rates and the overall state of their safety programs and culture. APPA uses electric department work hours and number of employees to determine award winners.
GUC is one out of 147 public power utilities to have earned the Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices for 2023.
ElectriCities
Our safety record was also recognized by ElectriCities with their Municipal Electric Safety Award. We were one of 52 ElectriCities member utilities that had no lost workday cases due to accidents or injuries in 2023.
Reporting on-the-job accidents and injuries is required by OSHA, but it’s not just about record-keeping and awards. The reports provide an opportunity to revisit safe work practices.
GUC Earns RP3 Designation
Greenville Utilities earned the Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3)® Platinum Level designation from the American Public Power Association for providing reliable and safe electric service.
RP3 designation, which lasts for three years, recognizes public power utilities that demonstrate proficiency in four key disciplines: reliability, safety, workforce development, and system improvement. Criteria include sound business practices and a utility-wide commitment to safe and reliable delivery of electricity. GUC is one of 271 public power utilities nationwide that hold the RP3 designation. Greenville Utilities has been recognized with the RP3 designation continuously since 2007.
“We couldn’t be prouder to be honored with this designation,” said John Worrell, Director of Electric Systems. “This is a prestigious recognition of a lot of work from a lot of people who really care about powering our community. We are committed to continuing to look for ways to improve our operations and service to our customers.”
APPA is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 49 million people in 2,000 towns and cities nationwide. APPA advocates and advises on electricity policy, technology, trends, training, and operations.
GUC Linemen Bring Home State Wins
Electric Department Linemen with awards.
A team of Electric Department Lineworkers fared well at the 25th Annual North Carolina Association of Municipal Electric Systems (NCAMES) Lineman’s Rodeo. On May 9th, public power teams from around the state convened in Concord, NC, to compete in events that tested their knowledge and ability to perform tasks safely and quickly.
Lineman rodeos involve events for Apprentices (less than four years of experience) and Journeymen (more than four years). GUC's Journeyman team included Oscar Meeks, CJ Forrest, Cole Hartley, and Calvin Whitehead. Competing in the Apprentice division were Carter Gaskins, Holden Stotesbury, Jordan Bradshaw, Jordan Lang, Isaiah Edwards, and Hunter Forrest. Team Coaches were James Forrest and Gavin Smith.
Our team performed well again this year!
In the Apprentice competitions, Carter placed 1st Overall, 1st in Hurtman Rescue, 1st in Load Transfer, and 3rd in Egg Climb. Hunter placed 3rd in Load Transfer, and Jordan placed 5th Overall.
In the Journeyman Division, Oscar placed 5th Overall and 1st in Lightning Arrestor Changeout.
GUC Receives NCDOL Safety Awards
GUC employees with NCDOL awards
At this year’s Greenville-Pitt Chamber of Commerce annual Safety Luncheon on April 25th, the NC Department of Labor (NCDOL) recognized GUC's efforts to work safely. For one of our departments, this was the 17th consecutive year earning awards at the banquet. In all, we were honored with 13 safety awards.
Gold Level Awards were presented to companies with days away from work, job transfers, or restricted time rates at least 50% below the industry average. Awards at this level went to Wastewater Treatment Plant (17th year), Customer Relations (11th year), Water Treatment Plant (7th year), Express Office (4th year), Administration (3rd year), Administration Building (3rd year), Information Technology (3rd year), Red Banks (1st year), and Human Resources (1st year).
Silver Level Awards were presented to companies with days away from work rates at least 50% below the industry average. Awards at this level went to Finance (1st year), Meter (1st year), Electric (1st year), and GUC as a whole (1st year).
NCDOL's Safety Awards Program was established in 1946 and recognizes private and public firms throughout the state that maintain good safety records.
Customer Excellence Award
IT Department staff Andy Anderson, Elizabeth Sharp, and Becky Pope.
Greenville Utilities' Customer Cloud Service (CCS) Project Team won the Customer Excellence Award from industry peers in March during the Oracle Utility Users Group Conference. The Oracle Utilities Users Group (OUUG) is a global “for-users, by-users” support organization devoted to bringing together customers who use the Oracle Utilities systems.
The interdisciplinary CCS Project Team received this award based on several factors, but most notably is that GUC is among the first multi-service utilities to implement all four utilities on CCS. This was also the first time a new work and asset management system (Cityworks) was integrated with CCS, moving both systems to cloud based in the same timeframe.
The Project Team Co-Leaders were Becky Pope and Elizabeth Sharp with IT. The Project Team included Natalie O’Neal and Wendy Rogers (Electric), Paula Vinciguerra and Kenny Daniels (Meter), Lisa Johnson (Gas), Nikia Best-Manuel (Water), Denine Hardee (Billing), Juliet Telfair (Customer Relations/Call Center), Shannon Oakley (Customer Relations/Credit), Brian Weigand and Kim Coggins (Finance), and Courtney Basile, Robin Nichols, Michelle Edmundson, John Bartolotti, and Max Wu (IT).
"Smooth Operators" Make Waves in South Carolina
GUC's Smooth Operators team -- Adam Garris, Chris Hill, Bryon Orr, and Kyle Meeks
Greenville Utilities' Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) “Smooth Operators” swept the competition at the South Carolina Environmental Conference Operations Challenge in early March!
The conference was co-hosted by the Water Environment Association (WEF) of South Carolina and the South Carolina American Water Works Association. To showcase how wastewater treatment operators and technicians overcome challenges and emergencies, WEF has developed what is considered the industry’s most rigorous professional development program – the Operations Challenge. In order to compete at the national level, teams must perform well at the state-level competitions. The South Carolina conference hosts invited out-of-state teams to compete with them at their state conference (called an Invitational).
GUC’s 2024 “Smooth Operators” team includes Adam Garris, Chris Hill, Bryon Orr, and Kyle Meeks. They competed against 10 other wastewater teams from across the country and swept the competition! They came in 1st for Invitational (out-of-state teams), 2nd Overall, 1st in Safety, 2nd in Collections, 2nd in Maintenance, 3rd in Process Control, and 6th in Lab.
“This was a big win for us to go down and compete in one of the largest events held for the Operations Challenge across the nation and finish 1st in Invitational and 2nd Overall,” said Team Captain Bryon Orr. “It just goes to show that hard work pays off. We're thankful for our coworkers who help cover some of our daily duties while we’re out, so this team is truly bigger than just us four. It feels good to put GUC on the map for the Operations Challenge!”
Finance Receives National & State Awards
Finance Department staff
The Government Finance Officers' Association (GFOA) has once again presented our Finance Department with three awards for how they communicate financial information.
Finance received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget book. This marks the 8th consecutive year GUC has earned this recognition. The purpose of this award is to encourage and assist governments in preparing budgets of the highest quality for the benefit of its citizens and stakeholders with a vital interest in the budget process. To win the award, our budget document met program criteria and excelled as the policy document, financial plan, operations guide, and communication tool.
At the end of a fiscal year, organizations prepare an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) — a look back at the previous fiscal year. This is the 14th year Finance has earned a Certificate of Achievement in Financial Reporting for the ACFR. This award recognizes entities for going beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare financial reports that show transparency and full disclosure.
The Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) is a document designed to make an organization's ACFR easier to understand by people who do not have a finance or accounting background. GUC's PAFR was evaluated in five categories: reader appeal, understandability, distribution methods, creativity, and overall quality and usefulness. This is the 8th year in a row Finance has won the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting for its PAFR.
The GFOA advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources, and practical research for more than 20,500 members and communities they serve.
For the 13th year in a row, the purchasing section of GUC's Finance Department received the Sustained Professional Purchasing Award (SPPA), presented by the Carolinas Association of Governmental Purchasing (CAGP). GUC is one of 15 member agencies in North Carolina and South Carolina to receive this designation for calendar year 2023.
To earn the award, GUC had to demonstrate its ability to meet the complex criteria and high standards for utilization of technology, minority outreach, staff certification, customer training, vendor training, and the use of recycled products.
Digital Campaign Leads to National Awards
GUC’s Public Information Office (Pub Info) received an Excellence in Public Power Communications award from the American Public Power Association (APPA). The award was in the print and digital category.
Awards were given to those who showed ingenuity and creativity in telling their stories through outstanding copy, design, graphics, social media engagement, and video editing. This is the first time GUC has won an award for the print and digital campaign category.
In 2022, GUC launched its first text notification system to inform customers about power outages around the clock. Rather than ask customers to go to the trouble of registering for the service, the decision was made to automatically opt-in customers who have already provided a mobile phone number to GUC.
Pub Info created a publicity campaign centered around two main goals: to motivate customers to update their information with a mobile number if they had not already, and to inform customers of the new system in an effort to keep opt-out numbers low once the outage texts began.
Water Treatment Plant Earns AWOP Award
For the 8th year in a row, our Water Treatment Plant has received the prestigious North Carolina Area Wide Optimization Award. Of the 157 water treatment plants in the state, the NC Division of Water Resources has included Greenville Utilities among the 72 honored for surpassing federal and state drinking water standards in 2022. The award is a state effort to enhance the performance of existing surface water treatment facilities.
In 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed new regulations to reduce the risk of biological contamination. The EPA then partnered with states to form the Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP). This program introduced more stringent water quality goals and helps water systems meet those goals. North Carolina has participated in AWOP since 2000 and is one of 29 states involved in the program.
Public Power Awards of Excellence
GUC earned Public Power Awards of Excellence in all five categories offered by ElectriCities. This is the eighteenth year in a row that GUC has received these awards.
The categories mirror the ElectriCities strategic priorities and include:
Future-focused - Recognizing communities that develop a future-focused mindset
Strengthen Public Power - Celebrating communities that build public and political support for public power
Provide Superior Power - Highlighting communities that deliver reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric power
Customer-centered Innovation - Celebrating public power providers that innovate and invest to better serve their customers and communities
People - Recognizing cities and towns that leverage their people as their greatest asset
ElectriCities is an organization that represents cities, towns, and universities that own their electric distribution systems. Greenville Utilities is a member of ElectriCities, along with more than 90 other members in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.