Jerry Collins Q&A

MLGW's President and CEO, Jerry Collins, recently sat down for an interview that will air on Memphis Energized. Collins shared his thoughts on MLGW and his vision for the company’s future. For those of you who can't wait to watch, I have the transcript:

What is your vision for MLGW now and into the future?
I see MLGW, now and in the future, as the most intelligent and efficient utility in the country. I see it as being a utility serving a very energy efficient service area for all customers. I see an area where all the customers are very energy conscious. I see a utility where the employees are very customer service focused.

Why are the employees of MLGW so important to our mission and vision?
Our employees serve our customers – they deal with our customers face-to-face everyday. It’s extremely important that all of our employees be actively engaged and be customer service oriented. Everyday, we’re striving to provide the best possible service to our customers.

Why should the residents of Memphis be proud to have MLGW as their utility company?
What most customers don’t realize is that MLGW has some of the lowest rates in the country for electricity, natural gas and most importantly, drinking water. Relative to other utilities across the country, the utility bills our customers pay are very low. What’s more, our service is very reliable and the number of outages are becoming less and less every year. Not to mention the fact that our employees are generous. They volunteer and give of their time and money – they give back to the citizens of Memphis and Shelby County.

How does MLGW help customers who are having difficulties paying their utility bills?
We have a myriad of payment plans and payment options which help customers. We lobby for utility assistance. There’s more utility assistance available now than there has ever been. Plus, we have very proactive programs such as our rental ordinance program where we inspect rental properties to make sure rental properties are energy efficient. We also are very active in encouraging builders to build energy efficient housing which benefit our customers for the long term.

How does MLGW assistance programs make us different from other utility companies?
I don’t think there is any other utility company that is actively inspecting rental properties to make sure that renters have the lowest possible bills. MLGW also has a very active program for weatherizing homes. There’s probably 40,000 homes in Shelby County that need to be weatherized. Over the next three years, I’m hopeful, with the collaboration of Shelby County, that we can weatherize about 5,000 homes. That’s a proactive step that we’re doing, that we don’t have to do, but it is the right thing to do.

What is MLGW doing to help customers living in the high energy use areas?
We’ve got a great database that tells us the energy usage per square foot for every residential unit in the whole county. There are five ZIP codes that use twice as much energy per square foot as the average home in our county. Those five ZIP codes are 38106, 38107, 38108, 38109 and 38114. We are really focusing our efforts in those five ZIP codes to bring those homes into a more energy efficient mode. We want to help customers reduce their bills, raise their quality of life and improve their economic standard of living.

How does MLGW plan to help the city of Memphis grow and bring new developments and industry?
One of the primary purposes of MLGW is to expand the tax base by bringing new industry into Memphis and Shelby County. We’re doing that by encouraging development in inner city areas where much of the infrastructure has been abandoned. We have ongoing programs that help bring industry to Memphis. We’re a very active partner with the Memphis Chamber of Commerce. We do all that we can to improve property values and to improve and broaden the tax base.

What is MLGW’s future with Smart Grid?
Smart Grid includes many different facets of what we do. It is a very intelligent way of distributing electricity, natural gas and water throughout the whole system. It gives our customers much more information in their homes and business so that they can make decisions on how to save energy and be more energy efficient. Smart Grid would help us make sure that TVA doesn’t spend needless dollars building more power plants. It actually has a positive impact on reducing the operating costs of MLGW and it pays for itself and gives our customers a more empowered way to deal with utilities on an everyday basis.

Where is MLGW now with the Smart Grid process?
In 2010, we are giving birth to a Smart Grid demonstration which will include 1,000 smart meters across the city. This demonstration will be used to show the advantages of a Smart Grid in a large urban area. Hopefully, Smart Grid will be implemented over a 10 year period for our 450,000 customers.

How is MLGW working to curb utility theft?
Last year, there were thousands of incidents of utility theft in our service area. We go after people who steal these utilities. There are very stiff penalties and fees associated with this. Many are prosecuted, but the ultimate solution is to have a Smart Grid in our system that would identify and eliminate theft almost completely.

How is Smart Grid going to improve MLGW’s system?
If someone pulls their meter out of the socket at their house, we will know it immediately. If a person puts someone else’s meter in that socket, we will know it immediately. It will be almost no more theft of utilities in Memphis and Shelby County if we have Smart Grid. Theft is a huge problem and it’s a problem we need to fix.