Oct 10, 2024

Greenville Water receives Excellence in Resourcefulness Award for Infrastructure Resiliency and Preparedness

GREENVILLE, SC, Oct. 7, 2024 – Greenville Water and Canada’s Alectra Utilities received the ninth annual Excellence in Resourcefulness Awards from Frost & Sullivan in collaboration with Itron during Itron’s Inspire 2024 Conference.

Both utilities were recognized for exceptional operational outcomes while delivering strong customer satisfaction ratings. Their successes can be attributed to their early planning for decarbonization and water infrastructure resiliency.

Greenville Water CEO Jeff Boss said, “Resiliency is one of our core pillars, one we recently tested in real-time during Hurricane Helene. Our operations, transmission and delivery were consistent and continuous. We stand ready to assist our neighbors in WNC throughout this recovery period.”

Nestled near the Appalachian Mountains and between the major metropolitan cities of Atlanta and Charlotte, the City of Greenville can best be described as an idyllic, community-oriented, blissful and fast-growing city. The municipal water utility, Greenville Water, has been exhibiting historic growth these past several years. It has been adding more than 400 new accounts per month. It is home to 40+ Fortune 500 companies, including BMW, Lockheed Martin and Michelin.

The main attraction of Greenville Water is its highly efficient water infrastructure, which also has won awards for its high-quality drinking water, including the AWWA 2024 Exemplary Source Water Protection Award and the AMWA 2024 Sustainable Water Utility award. The water municipality maintains one of the lowest average monthly bill rates in the country, at merely $12. This mid-size municipality of 194,000 customer accounts has demonstrated that competing resources are not a barrier to operating a highly efficient water network. Greenville Water selected Itron as its preferred technology partner more than 20 years ago. With continuous oversight, the water municipality has perfected its transmission and billing automation system with a one-day read- to-bill window.

As part of the selection process, Frost & Sullivan conducted in-depth research and interviews and evaluated utilities against industry best practices and the decision criteria, including societal impact and business impact for each category. Indicators for societal impact indicators include delivering superior technology-driven resource management and resource-conscious programs that are tied to enhancing overall customer experience and engagement for resourcefulness.

Indicators for business impact indicators include a well-drafted vision for implementing a technology-oriented resourcefulness strategy that yields operational efficiencies and strengthens the utilities or city's image as a leader and advocate for sustainability.