The Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma, Inc. (MESO} announces that the City of Tecumseh is recognized for Outstanding Achievement in the association’s annual Electric Operations and Reliability Competition. The utility was recognized in the category for cities under 10,000 population and cited for outstanding performance in electric reliability.
The utility was recognized for having an Average System Availability Index of 99.9954 percent in 2021. Tecumseh employees meet the requirements of their work with professionalism and safety due to employer efforts. These efforts include four years of rigorous field experience and testing for each line worker before they achieve journey lineworker status.
MESO General Manager Tom Rider presented the award to Tecumseh.
In presenting the award, Rider said that the trade association values the continued participation of the various utilities in the region in the annual reliability competition. “It’s important, we believe, for cities to maintain accurate records to measure their reliability and productivity.
Through ongoing review of operations of cities in the four-state region, we find over time which systems have continuous excellence in construction standards and distribution automation.
The City of Tecumseh has taken many steps to maintain reliability and continues to invest in system improvement.”
“The current operational standards and employee training standards of this utility are superior. This training and development of staff and increased funding for reliability resulted in the continued excellent performance of the utility. Local control means local crews. That means fast response. And fast response means less outage time.”
MESO is a municipal utility trade association representing cities in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas. The association’s member utilities provide non-profit electric services and electric power generation to some 750,000 people in four states. Tecumseh purchases energy from the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority.
To ensure fast response to emergencies, Tecumseh is also a signatory to Mutual Aid Agreements in the region. These agreements are recognized by FEMA for use in the event of emergency or natural disaster. Utilities in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma agree through the program on the conditions under which assistance may be received in an emergency ahead of the event so there are no delays in responding to the needs of another utility.
