ROCHELLE – Rochelle Municipal Utilities received top honors from the Illinois Municipal Utilities Association for its performance in the American Public Power Association’s 2024 “Safety Awards of Excellence,” earning first place in its division and the Diamond Award in Group C for safe operations. The utility was one of six Illinois municipal systems recognized at the IMUA’s 2025 Annual Conference on May 15 in Springfield.
Blake Toliver, Superintendent of Electric Operations and Generation with Rochelle Municipal Utilities, said they are always being proactive.
“We are working on a couple of reconductoring projects, replacing some poles in certain areas,” he said. “We’re constantly doing vegetation management, just focusing on all the areas that we know or have seen that could be potential problem areas.”
RMU was also one of 202 public power utilities nationwide acknowledged for operating without lost-time injuries. In addition, Rochelle received the APPA’s Certificate of Excellence in Reliability for ranking in the top 25 percent nationally, based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data.