Florida Public Power Utilities Receive 2024 “Building Strong Communities” Awards from FMEA

At its annual Energy Connections Conference & Trade Show in Daytona Beach, the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) today awarded 20 Florida public power utilities with “Building Strong Communities” awards. These awards were created to recognize Florida’s community-owned public power utilities for their efforts to enrich their local communities by providing extra services and programs that go above and beyond what they normally provide.

Winners were selected for programs and projects that provide community education, collect charitable donations, improve the environment, focus on crime prevention and other special programs that strengthen the communities in which they serve, such as lighting ball fields and supplying holiday flags, lighting and decor throughout the community, giving away free trees to residents, contributing to food distribution organizations and blood drives within the community, supplying backpacks full of school supplies, and attending career days at local schools.

“Florida’s public power utilities not only serve their communities, but they also help create a sense of community. Whether that’s inviting residents out for movies in the park to hanging holiday decorations to gathering items for a food drive, our utilities and their employees want their communities to be the best they possibly can because they live there, too,” said Amy Zubaly, FMEA Executive Director. “We applaud each of these utilities and their employees for all their efforts to support and strengthen their communities.”

This year’s “Building Strong Communities” award recipients include:

• Beaches Energy Services
• City of Blountstown
• City of Bushnell
• City of Chattahoochee
• Fort Pierce Utilities Authority
• City of Green Cove Springs
• Gainesville Regional Utilities
• Homestead Public Services
• JEA
• Keys Energy Services
• Kissimmee Utility Authority
• Lakeland Electric
• City of Leesburg
• City of Newberry
• New Smyrna Beach Utilities
• Ocala Electric Utility
• Orlando Utilities Commission
• City of Tallahassee
• City of Wauchula
• City of Winter Park Electric Utility

Not-for-profit public power utilities offer many benefits to the communities and customers they serve because they are locally owned, locally controlled and locally operated.

For more information on FMEA and Florida’s public power communities, please visitwww.flpublicpower.com.

_{Back row (left to right): Korey Bush, Lakeland Electric; Joshua Wilcher, Beaches Energy Services; Louis Cooper, Homestead Public Services; Ray Jordan, Gainesville Regional Utilities; Jerry Creel, JEA; Lowell Knollinger, Kissimmee Utility Authority; Steve Dotson, City of Tallahassee; Jamie England, City of Winter Park Electric Utility
Front row (left to right): Terri Rivas, Ocala Electric Utility; Jenise Osani, Orlando Utilities Commission; Morgan Wilson, City of Bushnell; Angela Jones, Gainesville Regional Utilities; Karissa Ware-Curry, Fort Pierce Utilities Authority; Dan Sabino, Keys Energy Services; Angie Smith, City of Leesburg; Ellen Fisher, New Smyrna Beach Utilities; Terri Morgan, City of Newberry}