TORONTO, March 19, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PowerStream, an electricity industry leader in the implementation of smart grid technologies, has been recognized by the Electricity Distributors Association (EDA) for demonstrating excellence in public relations as a result of the utility's successful 2012 "Follow the Smart Grid to Win" campaign.
PowerStream was presented with the EDA's "Communications/Public Relations Excellence Award – Public Relations Category" at the organization's Annual Gala Dinner held Monday evening at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. The award is presented by the EDA each year to an Ontario utility whose initiative had successfully raised the profile of a utility-specific program.
In October and November 2012, PowerStream's "Follow the Smart Grid to Win"initiative helped to increase customer awareness of Smart Grid and its benefits as well as the "following" of the company's social media properties, in particular PowerStream's Twitter page. Results from the campaign included:
- 1.822 million impressions about Smart Grid through advertisements on CTV Barrie
- 219,207 impressions about Smart Grid through online advertisements on the websites of Metroland newspapers in York Region and Simcoe County
- 694,165 impressions about Smart Grid through tweets and re-tweets on Twitter
- 160 per cent increase in the number of Followers of @PowerStreamNews on Twitter (from 289 to 750).
QUOTES
- "PowerStream is committed to ensuring our customers are fully aware of what we provide and how we can help, so it's both fitting and thrilling that our smart grid campaign has been recognized as industry-leading," said Frank Scarpitti, PowerStream Board Chair and Mayor of the City of Markham. "The public response to our campaign was fantastic. I thank our team for their impressive work in connecting and helping consumers in all our channels, including social media."
- "This is a tremendous honour and we sincerely thank the EDA for presenting us with this prestigious award," added Brian Bentz, President and CEO, PowerStream. "Engaging consumers in innovative ways as we did in our Follow the Smart Grid to Win campaign is consistent with our ongoing efforts to be customer focused."
BACKGROUND
- PowerStream has received awards on several occasions from the EDA including the LDC Performance Excellence Award for 2010 as well as the Environmental Excellence Award for 2011 and 2009.
ABOUT POWERSTREAM
PowerStream is a community-owned energy services company providing power and related solutions to more than 355,000 customers residing or owning a business in communities located immediately north of Toronto and in Central Ontario. It is jointly owned by the Cities of Barrie, Markham and Vaughan.
ABOUT THE EDA
The Electricity Distributors Association is the voice of Ontario's local electricity distributors, the publicly and privately owned companies that safely and reliably deliver electricity to over four million Ontario homes, businesses and public institutions.
LET'S CONNECT!
eStream – Blog.PowerStream.ca
Facebook – PowerStreamPage
Twitter – @PowerStreamNews
YouTube – PowerStreamTV
LinkedIn – PowerStream
CATEGORIES – Community, Smart Grid
KEYWORDS – EDA, Smart Grid, Award, Public Relations
