Wisconsin Public Power Inc. becomes WPPI Energy (12/12/08)

Wisconsin Public Power Inc. has become WPPI Energy. The change was approved at a December 11 meeting of the WPPI Energy Board of Directors. A new tagline – the way energy should be – and a new logo also were adopted to complement and highlight the company’s updated identity.

“WPPI Energy is the best way to identify the company we’ve become,” said WPPI Energy President and CEO Roy Thilly. “This very positive change acknowledges our member growth beyond Wisconsin to include nine member communities in Upper Michigan and Iowa while also preserving the name recognition WPPI has achieved within Wisconsin and nationally. It also provides quick description of what we do – provide reliable, affordable electric power to member communities for the long term.”

WPPI Energy was founded in 1980 by 23 Wisconsin municipal utilities, establishing it as the state’s first municipal electric power company. Membership reached 30 in 1989 when the company bought into its first power plant. Twenty customer-owned utilities have joined since 2001, including six in Michigan and three in Iowa. The most recently added member – Preston, Iowa – brings WPPI Energy’s membership to 50.

Thilly said the new name, tagline and logo are meant to enhance the company’s strengths. Long committed to renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation, WPPI Energy is leading the way in all three areas:

• WPPI Energy will have sufficient resources in place six years early – in 2009 – to meet the Wisconsin and Michigan requirements that 10 percent of all electric energy in the states be supplied from renewable resources by 2015.
• In the past three years, WPPI Energy has tripled funding for energy efficiency and conservation programs, from $2.38 million in 2006 to $9 million in 2009.
• Illustrating its commitment, WPPI Energy broke ground this fall on a $6.9 million, 49,705-squarefoot remodel and expansion project at its Sun Prairie headquarters, which is being built to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) New Construction Gold standard.