Power player: WPPI provides electricity for 50 municipally operated utilities

From a story by Judy Newman in the Wisconsin State Journal:

It's not just the company's two snappy, little hybrid electric cars that are drawing attention to Wisconsin Public Power Inc.

The nonprofit regional power company:

• Is doubling the size of its Sun Prairie headquarters to nearly 50,000 square feet and outfitting the offices for the highest level of energy efficiency.

• Signed its 50th municipal electric company, in Preston, Iowa, as a member last month.

• Will reach state goals for renewable energy use — 10 percent by 2015 — six years ahead of time.

So maybe those hybrid vehicles — painted sky blue, with the face of a young boy blowing dandelion seeds into the wind and the slogan, "Why just wish for a clean energy future?" — symbolize what WPPI is all about.

In an industry increasingly dominated by big, powerful, publicly traded utility companies, WPPI, founded nearly 30 years ago, has carved a niche of its own.

"They are a national model, in terms of communities working together on energy issues," said David Benforado, executive director of Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin.