(Albuquerque, N.M.) - PNM was recognized by PA Consulting Group as a recipient of the 2015 ReliabilityOne „¢ Award for Outstanding Midsize Utility - recognizing the very best midsize investor owned utilities in the United States. ReliabilityOne „¢ Awards are given annually to the utilities that have achieved outstanding reliability performance and have excelled in delivering the most reliable electric service to their customers.
"Keeping the lights on for our customers is a top priority for PNM, and the company's strong record of reliability is the result of the hard work and dedication of our employees," said PNM Vice President of New Mexico Operations, Aubrey Johnson. "We are grateful for this important recognition, and I'm proud of our entire team - from our field crews to the front office - for their commitment to the communities we serve. This award shows that we're doing a superior job for our customers, and it doesn't get much better than that."
PNM has invested more than $900 million on improving and maintaining the electric system from Jan. 1, 2012 through Sept. 30, 2015. Today, PNM customers experience fewer electrical outages and the outages that do occur - are significantly shorter in length than in previous years - thanks to the utility's continued efforts in electric system upgrades, improved response time and outage prevention measures. Key projects for improving our system reliability include:
- Continual maintenance of 14,763 circuit miles of transmission and distribution lines and 280 neighborhood substations.
- Regular testing underground cables and cable replacement of those that tested poorly.
- Consistent pole replacement inspections and replacement of those that do not meet our standards.
- Routine inspections of transformers and replacement when needed.
- Routine inspections of trees that interfere with power lines and a trimming schedule.
All Midsized utilities operating electric delivery networks in North America are eligible for consideration for the Outstanding Midsize Utility award. The selection of provisional recipients is based primarily on system reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of customer outages. After provisional recipients are selected, each company undergoes an on-site certification process which provides an independent review and confirmation of the policies, processes and systems used to collect, analyze and report a company's reliability results.
"Reliability is ultimately one of the most tangible means to customer engagement," said Jeff Lewis, PA Consulting Group's ReliabilityOne „¢ Program Director. "The utilities that are proactively and accurately exchanging information with their customers are separating themselves from the pack with respect to customer engagement. Customers are demanding real-time accurate information regarding outage response, and that is at the core of what we as an industry should be doing. PNM has demonstrated that it understands the essence of customer engagement and is consistently providing superior service."