NORWOOD, MA — Norwood Light Electric has received national recognition for achieving exceptional electric reliability in 2024. 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.
“Year after year, data consistently demonstrate public power utilities provide highly reliable service.” said APPA Director of Research and
Development Paul Zummo. “The utilities recognized here are truly elite when it comes to keeping the lights on. Their communities should be proud of the hard work and dedication of their local power providers as they earn this truly deserved recognition.”
Nationwide, the average public power customer has their lights out for less than half the amount of time that customers of other types of utilities do. Norwood Light average interruption duration totaled 25 minutes in 2024, compared to an average of 149 minutes last year for all U.S. electric utilities, excluding major widespread outages.
“We are honored to receive the Excellence in Reliability recognition from the American Public Power Association for the third consecutive year. This award is a testament to the dedication of our entire team and our continued investment in cutting-edge technology and equipment maintenance to minimize outage times. By building on our proud legacy, we remain committed to delivering reliable and affordable electric service to the residents and businesses of Norwood.” said Jason Haber, Assistant Superintendent for Norwood Light’s Electric Division.
Norwood Light’s unwavering commitment to reliability is exemplified by its continued investment in technology and equipment upgrades. This includes the replacement of conductors from main distribution feeders and the implementation of advanced utility meters that seamlessly integrate with an outage management system. Employees receive outage notifications via text within seconds of an event, enabling faster and more efficient responses. Additionally, Norwood Light’s website, norwoodlight.com, features an interactive outage map, empowering customers to report outages directly to the team. This map also provides a real-time view of the scope and scale of outages, estimated response times, and text notification updates as service is restored.
