NORWOOD, MA  – The Norwood Municipal Light Department has received national recognition for achieving exceptional electric reliability in 2022. 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’s encouraging to see year after year that public power’s track record for providing highly reliable service is backed up by data,” said APPA Director of Research and Development Paul Zummo. “These utilities are the best of the best when it comes to keeping the lights on. And these communities should be proud of their local power providers and appreciate the hard work that goes into earning this 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 26 minutes in 2022, compared to an average of 140 minutes last year for all U.S. electric utilities, excluding major widespread outages.

“This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff to ensure we keep Norwood powered, from customer service to field personnel. We are proud of the reliable power we have provided our community for many generations. Fortunately, recent investments in technology allows for us to document performance metrics and submit them to be recognized for the work the department has been doing for a long time.,” said Jason Haber, Assistant Superintendent for Norwood Light’s Electric Division.

Norwood Light’s commitment to reliability is seen in the investment in technology and equipment upgrades. Norwood Light has upgraded their utility meters to automatically feed into an outage management system. Employees receive a text notification of any outage within minutes of an event occurring, allowing for decreased response times. Norwood Light’s website, norwoodlight.com, has implemented a public facing outage map which allows customers to report their own outages direct to the staff.  This map also provides customers with an idea of the scope and scale of the outage, estimated response times and text notification alerts as the outage is resolved.

Norwood Light crews are also in the process of replacing 50-year-old switch gear at the William J. Kates Substation on Dean Street. The switch gear plays a critical role in providing reliable power.