The tales always began around a campfire. Or at a slumber party. Or some moment where the number of kids and the hours past sundown reached a critical mass.

I am, of course, referring to the late-night ghost story.

I don’t need to recount them here. You’ve probably heard them all and could add a few of your own, evoking a long-familiar crew of monsters and madmen and things that go “bump” in the night. Maybe even in their original phrasing; to this day, I can still hear one storyteller’s voice whispering the words “Maniacs lick hands, too.”

They thrilled. They chilled. And they guaranteed that sleep would not happen for anyone under 12. Every shadow and creak brought the stories back, with anticipation and uncertainty. Could it be … nah … but maybe?

And then, inevitably, morning came. And with it, reassurance.  Mom and Dad hadn’t turned into aliens or let the mad slasher in through the front door. Everything was safe, comforting, dependable even.

We could celebrate the fact that nothing had happened. And it was wonderful.

Why bring this up? Because Longmont Power & Communications just received a national honor from the American Public Power Association. And one of the main qualifications is “Nothing happened … or at least, very close.”

Specifically, we were recognized for electric reliability – how rarely electric outages happen, and how quickly the lights are turned back on when they do. Public power tends to be extremely reliable anyway, but only about 7% of public power utilities get recognized at this level of excellence.

How reliable is that? A typical LPC customer can go 22 months without seeing an outage. If one does hit, our crews bring the power back in about 45 minutes on average.

In a world that sometimes seems way too uncertain (thank you, COVID-19), that’s one less thing to worry about. We place your power at the front of our minds so that you don’t have to. Life can go on, whether it’s working from home, carrying on essential business, or simply unwinding at the end of the day with a book by lamplight or a late movie.

Safe. Comforting. Dependable, even.

And that’s no campfire story.