Marietta Power & Water is the only Georgia utility among 19 public power winners of a 2026 APPA customer satisfaction award, at the bronze level.

Marietta Power has won a national award for customer satisfaction. The city’s electric utility received a bronze-level Public Power Customer Satisfaction Award from the American Public Power Association, the city said Monday.

It is one of 19 public power utilities recognized this year, and the only one in Georgia. The association published the full list of winners on Oct. 26.

How the award works

The awards are based on customer surveys. Utilities are rated in eight categories:

  • customer service
  • field personnel
  • communication
  • reliability
  • value
  • outage response
  • innovation
  • overall satisfaction

Marietta Power earned bronze for an average satisfaction rating above 80% across all eight, the city said. The awards were presented at the association’s Customer Connections Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Who else won

Five utilities won gold, eight won silver and six won bronze. Most are in Massachusetts, Michigan and Washington state.

The other Southeast winners were Kissimmee Utility Authority in Florida, at silver, and Decatur Utilities in Alabama, at bronze.

The bronze winners were:

  • Decatur Utilities, Alabama
  • Grant PUD, Washington
  • Marietta Power & Water, Georgia
  • Marshfield Utilities, Wisconsin
  • Mason County PUD 3, Washington
  • Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County, Washington

What they said

“Our priority is providing reliable public power and high-quality service to our customers,” said Ron Mull, general manager of the Marietta Board of Lights and Water. “This recognition reflects the work our employees do every day to serve the Marietta community, and we appreciate our customers for recognizing those efforts.”

The American Public Power Association speaks for not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power about 2,000 towns and cities, the city said.

What it means for you

Marietta Power is owned by the city, not an investor-owned company like Georgia Power. The Board of Lights and Water runs it.

Not every Marietta address is on Marietta Power. Depending on where you live, your power may come from Georgia Power or Cobb EMC instead. Your bill shows which.

Outage response was one of the eight categories. The utility has installed automated switches that are projected to cut outage minutes by more than half. Read our story on Marietta Power’s $3.96 million grid upgrade.

If your power goes out, our page on power outages in Marietta lists who to call and where to find the outage maps.