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APGA would like to congratulate the 2024 System Operational Achievement Recognition (SOAR) program winners.  Launched in 2014, SOAR is an excellence recognition program for outstanding utility operations and safety practices. The program evaluates participants across four subject matters.

• The Employee Safety topic reviews a system’s dedication to ensuring the safety of your employees. This includes training, procedures and policies, programs, tools and equipment.
• The System Improvement topic reviews a system’s dedication to continuous improvement. This is evaluated through a system’s use of innovative tools and technologies, participation in industry voluntary initiatives, and implementation of industry best practices.
• The System Integrity topic reviews a system’s dedication to operating a safe system through capital improvement projects, the integrity management of assets, and operations & maintenance activities.
• The Workforce Development topic reviews a system’s efforts related to the recruitment, retention, growth, and satisfaction of employees.

SOAR applicants are awarded a rating based on a total cumulative score of points achieved from the program criteria. The criteria have been revised in recent years to align with the evolution of our industry on pipeline and integrity safety management systems, environmental stewardship, and methane emission mitigation. In addition to recognizing excellence, SOAR provides participants with an easy way to compare their existing programs against those determined to be leading practices by their peer public gas systems. 

2024 SOAR Winners

Gold

• City of Covington, GA
• City of Rocky Mount, NC
• Greenville Utilities Commission, NC
• Knoxville Utilities Board, TN
• Watertown Municipal Utilities, SD

Silver

• Austin Utilities, MN
• City of Palo Alto, CA
• Decatur Utilities, AL
• JCE Co-Op, IL
• Memphis Light Gas & Water, TN
• Middle Tennessee Natural Gas, TN
• Midwest Energy Inc., KS
• ORUD Natural Gas, TN
• Scottsboro Water, Sewer & Gas Board, AL
• Southeast Gas, AL

Bronze

• Chester County Natural Gas Authority, SC
• City of Monroe, NC
• City of Tifton, GA
• City of Warner Robins, GA
• CPS Energy, TX
• Greenwood Commissioners of Public Works, SC
• Kennett Municipal Gas System, MO
• Long Beach Utilities, CA
• Perry Natural Gas System, GA
• West Tennessee Public Utility District, TN

SOAR applications are accepted from January to March of each year. All APGA member systems are encouraged to participate. All participants, regardless of award status, are provided an aggregated and anonymized summary of the SOAR application responses. This allows participants to review the various open-ended responses to see the innovative and unique solutions APGA members are implementing.

For more information, please visit www.apga.org/programs/soar. 

For questions on this article, please contact Erin Kurilla of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at ekurilla@apga.org.