Power outages are rare and usually corrected by the Poplar Bluff, Mo., utility in less than an hour, on average, according to an award recently presented to city officials.
Municipal Utilities has once again received the Charlie Burgett Electric Reliability Award from a trade association that represents cities in Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas.
The award recognizes outstanding achievement for a city with a population of more than 10,000, said Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma General Manager Tom Rider.
The city had an average system availability index of 99.9947 percent in 2016. This is one of the highest reported levels of service reliability among cities in the region, according to MESO.
"Poplar Bluff electric not only has taken many steps to maintain reliability, but continues to invest in system improvement," Rider said in a press release. "The current operational standards and employee training standards of this utility are superior.
"This training and development of staff and funding commitment for reliability resulted in the continued excellent performance of the utility."
Municipal Utilities General Manager Bill Bach and the utility were recognized Monday at the Poplar Bluff City Council meeting.
"I thought that was a great award and wanted to thank Bill for the great job he does," said city manager Mark Massingham.
Municipal Utilities also received a reliability award from MESO in 2015, with an average system availability index of 99.9906 percent in 2014. That marked the 10th time the utility had won the award since 1995.
Local ownership is a key factor in maintaining a reliable system, MESO believes.
"Local control means local crews. That means fast response. And fast response means less outage time," Rider said.
Crews are located within two miles of most Poplar Bluff customers, officials said.
It is important for utilities to maintain accurate records of reliability and productivity, Rider said.
Ongoing review of operations across the four-state region allows MESO to see which systems have continuous excellence in construction standards and distribution automation.
Bach has also attributed tree trimming policies that keep limbs away from lines to keeping the power on and the public safe.
Members of MESO serve 750,000 people across four states.