Interior Gas Utility receives national awards

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Last week, Interior Gas Utility (IGU) won two awards at the American Public Gas Association’s national conference.

“We are really humbled and happy to have received those awards,” Elena Sudduth, Customer Service and Marketing Manager with IGU, said. “All of the publicly owned natural gas utilities in the country are part of that association.”

The utility, which expands access to natural gas in the Fairbanks and North Pole areas, was one of 38 national winners in the field of safety. “That Safety Award looks at the natural gas utilities that have done a very good job throughout the year, throughout 2020 maintaining the safety within our crews, within our entire community,” Sudduth explained.

According to Sudduth, 2020 presented a uniquely challenging season for IGU. “We were compared against all of the natural gas utilities that are publicly owned in the country [and] not all of them have had as high of a construction season as we did. We were busy at work in 2020 getting the North Pole Storage and Vaporization Facility online, and that was a heavy construction season for us.”

The public utility also placed number one in Marketing and Sales. It’s campaign in 2020 focused on adding new customers, and its new storage facilities in Fairbanks and North Pole. “We do social media advertising. We have yard signs all throughout Fairbanks in places where natural gas mains are available. We did a complete redesign of our website,” Sudduth said, adding, “We are trying to get the word out there any way we can.”

IGU currently has about 210 miles of gas mains between Fairbanks and North Pole. The utility gives access to its lines to businesses and residences throughout the summer.

IGU is accepting applications for new services in 2021 through August 15th.

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