Northern Wasco County People’s Utility District has received national recognition for achieving exceptional electric reliability in 2024, one of only three recipients in Oregon.  The recognition comes from the American Public Power Association, a trade group that represents more than 2,000 not-for-profit, community-owned electric utilities.  APPA helps electric utilities track power outage and restoration data through its subscription-based eReliability Tracker service, and once per year, its Reliability Team compares this data to national statistics tracked by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  The Certificate of Excellence in Reliability recognizes utilities with in the top quartile based on EIA data from 2019-2023, meaning they experienced the shortest outage durations.  Northern Wasco County PUD Chief Operating Officer Jeff Teel says the recognition reflects the dedication of their lineworkers, engineers, and field personnel who work in all conditions to maintain our infrastructure and quickly restore power when outages occur.  Nationwide, the average public power customer has their lights out for less than half the amount of time that customers of other types of utilities do.