The Salem Electric Department has received national recognition for achieving exceptional electric reliability in 2020. The recognition comes from the American Public Power Association (APPA), a trade group that represents more than 2,000 not-for-profit, community-owned electric utilities.
APPA helps electric utilities track power outage and restoration data through its subscription-based eReliability Tracker service. Once per year, APPA’s Reliability Team compares this data to national statistics tracked by the U.S. Energy Information Administration for all types of electric utilities.
“It is very special to receive this honor during a time when having uninterrupted service at home and at work was more important than ever before,” says A.K. Briele, Salem Electric Department Director. “Our staff takes great pride in keeping the power on for our citizens each and every day, and I am extremely proud to accept this recognition on their behalf.”
Nationwide, the average public power customers have their lights out for less than half the amount of time that customers of other types of utilities do.
“Public power utilities have proven their commitment to serving their community by continuing to lead the nation in reliability,” says Alex Hofmann, APPA’s Vice President of Technical and Operations Services. “These utilities are the best of the best when it comes to keeping the lights on in their communities.”
Salem’s System Average Interruption Duration Index figure is just 10.1 minutes for the past year for non-emergency events. This figure is calculated using the total number of customers and total number of outage minutes over the past year. For comparison, the national average is nearly 14 times greater at 139 minutes.
The City of Salem is one of 16 municipalities in the Commonwealth that operates its own electric department.
Here is a link to the list of all 2020 HONOREES nationwide.