APPA’s Public Power Connect, June 8
American Public Power Association
The awards ceremony, excerpted here, was held virtually.
People
Utility Workforce: Rich Meisinger
Business Manager, IBEW Local 111
Half of the control room operators had been exposed to COVID at one of their power plants. We only have four, so there were two left. For two weeks, those two lived at the plant, so it had 24-hour coverage.
Utility Workforce: Kris Anderson
IBEW Third District Representative
On Christmas Eve there was a big outage and we got the wires hung, we closed the fuse in and saw all the Christmas lights pop on. I know it meant a lot to those folks.
Utility Workforce: Virgil Melton
Curriculum Specialist
Our first-year apprentices are making $100,000 a year when they start out.
Utility Workforce: Drew Stover
Business Manager, IBEW Local 84
Safety is priority number one for all of us and our employers partner with us on that.
Utility Workforce: Donnie Colston and Mark Brueggenjohann
IBEW Utility & Media Directors
The IBEW represents railroad workers, manufacturing, media, utilities, outside construction, and every aspect of the utility industry.
Utility Workforce: Jerry Bellah
IBEW VP, Eighth District
Being a lineman in the field, you’re one of the more valuable people in the economy in the U.S., as they are considered an essential occupation and stayed working during the lockdown.
Saluting the IBEW and Utility Workforce
Six Conversations
While we suspend our daily schedules, the utility workforce goes all out.
Fortnightly Under Forty: Brian Van Abel
Xcel Energy
“It’s been a fluid situation and we’ve learned a lot on how statewide shelter-in-place orders impact each customer class as we’ve gone through April.”
Fortnightly Under Forty: Abbey Roy
Southern Company
“ I spend a lot of time with other technology companies seeking partnerships for new technologies we can deploy.”