(KANSAS CITY, Kan.) BPU was among the elite public power electric utilities earning awards from the American Public Power Association (APPA) for their most recent communications materials. The awards were presented recently at the Association’s Customer Connections Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

APPA conducts the Excellence in Public Power Communications awards to encourage and recognize excellence in communications. This year’s entries were judged in three separate categories: Print/Digital, Web/Social Media and Video.

Awards were presented to utilities that exemplified ingenuity and creativity in copy, design, financial data, graphics, organization, social media interaction, video editing, web layout and interactivity, as well as in communicating the utility’s special story.

BPU was presented with the Award of Excellence in the Web/Social media category for its website. The website was recognized for its usability, format, colorful graphics and content value.

APPA is the voice of 2,000 not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that provide electricity to more than 48 million customers nationwide. Its members strengthen their communities by providing superior service, engaging citizens, and instilling pride in community-owned power. More at publicpower.org

BPU’s water department was originally created in 1909, and its electric utility was operational in 1912. The purpose of the utility, then and to this day, is to provide the highest quality electric and water services at the lowest possible cost. Today the publicly owned utility serves approximately 65,000 electric and 53,000 water customers, primarily in Wyandotte County, Kansas. The mission of the utility and its employees is “to focus on the needs of our customers, to improve the quality of life in our community while promoting safe, reliable and sustainable utilities.” BPU’s Web site is www.bpu.com