New London Utilities’ General Manager Steve Thompson received the Individual Achievement Award during the WPPI Energy Annual Meeting on Sept. 12 in Madison.
The award recognizes many years of active participation in WPPI Energy, a not-for-profit, joint-action power supplier to New London and 50 other communities in Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa.
Thompson has been involved with WPPI Energy since its inception in 1980, serving as one of the founding members. In his more than 40-year career, he has continually sought new ways to serve community needs.
In the late 1990s Thompson pioneered a new approach to energy efficiency. The New London Resource Project was a three-year, multimillion-dollar effort to help residents and businesses make significant energy-saving improvements. The utility made low-interest loans that were paid back on the utility bill, which continues today through the Shared Savings program.
Under his leadership, New London Utilities has made significant infrastructure improvements, rebuilding both the electric and water systems.
In addition, NLU has hosted an annual breakfast for commercial customers, met with local businesses regularly, organized a recycling event that kept more than 53,000 pounds of electronics out of the landfill, and contributed money toward purchasing an emergency police radio for each school in the district.
In addition to serving on the WPPI Energy Board of Directors since 1985, Thompson has served on many WPPI Energy Advisory Groups: Customer & Energy Services, Member Services, Distribution Services, and Information & Technology.
Most recently, as chair of the Metering and Billing Best Practices Task Force, he helped establish a workshop, training manual and video for utilities. He also has been a strong advocate at the state and federal level for sound energy policies that benefit customers of locally owned utilities.