The Art and Science of Managing Public Utilities

For the past 18 years, NEPPA has offered its members a professional development program known as "Public Utility Management." This program was conceived in the early 1990s by a small group of public power officials who believed that managing consumer-owned electric utilities successfully required a unique combination of skills, aptitude and experience.

Unlike private companies, which are driven by the need to make profits, public power systems are driven to achieve other purposes, which are not always so easy to identify and measure. Providing reliable electric service at a reasonable cost is the fundamental goal, but as public enterprises owned by their own customers, other purposes also come into play, such as community involvement, environmental stewardship and collaborations with other municipal officials and agencies. To successfully balance all of these goals while coping with the demands of a rapidly changing industry, required—it was believed—a very special manager.

To this end, the NEPPA Public Utility Management Program has evolved into a sort of graduate school for public power managers. While it still addresses some of the fundamental skills associated with supervising and directing people in the workplace, it now includes other competencies that have been shown to be essential for successful public power managers. These include such abilities as: Self-Motivation and Personal Initiative; Critical Thinking; People Skills; Communication Skills; Negotiation Skills; Strategic Planning Skills and; Political Skills.

In 2011, the NEPPA Public Utility Management Program will continue to provide a unique opportunity for New England public power officials to develop and/or strengthen these capabilities. The program will once again be divided into two sessions—one in March and one in November. Each session will run from Wednesday afternoon to Friday and will consist of four half-day classes focusing on specific management skills. The location of next year’s program has been changed, due to the closure of the New England Center in Durham, N.H., which has been our home since the program began in 1993. We have, however, secured another great facility for the program—the Cranwell Conference Center in Lenox, Mass. It will meet all of our requirements and should be a comfortable location for classes, meals and lodging.

And so, we are now inviting NEPPA members to register for this outstanding program and to join your professional colleagues for a unique learning experience. As our brochure conveys, the program will change the way in which you see yourself, your organization and your career. Circle your calendar, send in your registration and head for the Berkshires on March 23.

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