ElectriCities of North Carolina, Inc., received an Excellence in Public Power Communications Award from the American Public Power Association. APPA recognized ElectriCities with an Award of Excellence in the Print & Digital category for its 2022 Value of Public Power campaign.
The campaign provided educational messaging to regional public power customers and the elected officials who represent them.
“For years, many of our members’ customer surveys revealed that a surprising number of public power customers didn’t know they were served by a public power provider or, sometimes, what public power is,” said Elizabeth Kadick, Vice President of Communications at ElectriCities. “As public power communities continue to face evolving customer expectations, additional competitive pressures, and the potential for adverse legislation and regulation, the need to educate public power customers and their elected officials about the incredible value public power providers bring to their communities has become even more important.”
In one element of the Value of Public Power campaign, ElectriCities served geographically targeted digital ads to North Carolina public power customers on Google and social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, and Twitter, now known as X. The campaign also included radio ads, targeted broadcast ads, community sponsorship events, and toolkits made available to ElectriCities members to help them promote public power in their local communities.
“As communicators, we’ve always showcased the value of public power across all communication channels, but this structured, focused, and measured approach is a first for us,” Kadick said. “Given the campaign’s response rate, impact, and importance, it’s one we’re continuing for the foreseeable future, evolving ad placement and messaging as metrics dictate.”
ElectriCities is one of 67 public power electric utilities and utility organizations that earned Excellence in Public Power Communications Awards from APPA this year.
The national awards were presented during APPA’s Customer Connections Conference in San Antonio, Texas, and recognize public power organizations demonstrating excellence in communication in three categories: Print & Digital, Web & Social Media, and Video. An outside panel of communications experts from around the country judged this year’s submissions.
“We’re proud to showcase the value of public power and to be recognized on the national level for the important work we do on behalf of our member communities every day,” Kadick said.
In recent years, ElectriCities has received Awards of Excellence for its 2020 Annual Report and for its “How I Got Into Energy” video feature, as well as an Award of Merit for its Outage Communication Resources webpage.
About the American Public Power Association
The American Public Power Association (APPA) is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide. APPA represents public power before the federal government to protect the interests of the more than 49 million people that public power utilities serve and the 96,000 people they employ. The association advocates and advises on electricity policy, technology, trends, training, and operations. Learn more at www.publicpower.org.
About ElectriCities of North Carolina
ElectriCities of North Carolina, Inc., is the membership organization that provides power supply and related critical services to over 90 community-owned electric systems in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia—collectively known as public power. ElectriCities manages the power supply for two power agencies in North Carolina and provides technical services to assist members in operating their electric distribution systems. ElectriCities also helps these locally owned and operated public power providers thrive today and in the future by delivering innovative services, including legislative, technical, communications, and economic development expertise.
Visit www.electricities.com to learn more about the benefits of public power and how ElectriCities helps communities keep the lights on through access to safe, reliable, and affordable energy.