Consumers Energy is going to be celebrating all year-long and they’re kicking it off today with some grants to Michigan communities totaling $1.25 million. You can read a complete history of Consumers Energy along with an accompanying Flickr album. You can also watch the video below from their YouTube channel.

Last month they launched their new Natural Gas Resource Center. The center has a ton of useful information for their natural gas customers including information on safety, costs, call 811, even a calculator. There’s more stuff there so take some time to check it out.

Wow…125…pretty old. I’m going to need to do some research to see if that’s the oldest utility out there. Actually, if your utility is older, leave a comment below.

Hat tip to Dan Gretzner for the story.

Our speaker from the National Transportation Safety Board was the Hon. Christopher Hart, whose message focused on the benefits of collaboration and how it’s possible to improve safety and productivity at the same time.  U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood acknowledged the industry for its engagement in pipeline safety issues and pledged to work towards passage of the pipeline safety legislation.  The media was invited to hear Secretary LaHood’s address and both speakers took questions from the audience.

What would an AGA event be without an opportunity to relax and spend some time networking?  During the reception on Monday evening, we were joined by Senator Rand Paul and had the opportunity to speak with him.

Other highlights included a lunch address from PG&E’s Nick Stavropoulos on rebuilding trust in the community following San Bruno, and Tuesday’s CEO panel focused on strategies leaders can use to build a strong safety culture within an organization.  Tuesday afternoon also included a video presentation from Tom Taylor of Consumers Energy called “In the Blink of an Eye.”  The DVD provides very moving interviews with company staff involved in an incident where an employee life was almost lost.

The 2012 Executive Leadership Safety Summit will take place in conjunction with the Operating Section Fall Committee Meetings in Atlanta, GA in September.  As well as being invited to share information (DVD’s, books, posters, websites) on their company’s safety culture and procedures, members attending the 2012 Summit will have the opportunity to bring their contractors to the event to take away information and practices to improve safety ‘back home.’

The presentations from the 2011 Executive Leadership Safety Summit have been posted online and are available to full and limited members.  We’ve posted some of the photos below but you can see the full set here or at our Facebook page.

McCurdy was joined by Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to President Obama for Energy and Climate Change, Representative Jason Altmire (D-PA), Roger Cooper, Principal of Cleveland Park Consulting, Vello Kuuskraa, President of Advances Resources, Amy Mall, Senior Policy Analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Peter Molinaro, Vice President of Federal and State Affairs at the Dow Chemical Company, and Peter Robertson, Senior Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs and America’s Natural Gas Alliance.

Dave McCurdy, President and CEO of the American Gas Association (AGA) 

Many in the natural gas and energy industry agree that the future of the industry relies on honest, fact-based conversations about the industry and this was exactly that. Zichal began by placing natural gas in a broader energy context, noting the economic pains of the rising price of oil and some of the challenges for oil and coal for a clean energy future. She stressed that to the Obama administration, natural gas is a “big part” of the solution to our energy challenges.

Rep. Altmire spoke of the successes the industry has seen in his home state of Pennsylvania through Marcellus shale drilling, citing 140,000 jobs created as a direct result of the natural gas industry. He brought up a recent study from Pennsylvania State University, stating that by 2020 the Marcellus shale play will provide 25% of America’s natural gas needs.

Dave McCurdy emphasized the opportunity for natural gas to help reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources, and to create jobs, new technologies and innovations at home.  Natural gas, he said, is a “game changer” in the energy industry because of its abundance and America’s ability to rise to the challenge and innovate already existing technologies.

This fact-based discussion was just what the industry needs more of in order to help ensure continued safe and reliable access to this foundation fuel—natural gas.

Watch the video below.

Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Tom Ridge became the first Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and, on January 24, 2003, became the first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Before the events of September 11^th, Tom Ridge was twice elected Governor of Pennsylvania.

You can read the rest of his bio over at Ridge Global. Very interesting read. Hope to see you there on Thursday.

Norris voiced his confidence that natural gas will play a large role in the future of America’s energy needs, but also spoke of the difficulties in getting investments for energy infrastructure that are needed for the natural gas industry to grow.

Norris noted that because natural gas is America’s energy future, in terms of infrastructure, “it is important we get it right.”

“Investing in this type of infrastructure is beneficial for the economy,” said Norris, “because a large investment will help America transition its energy usage while creating jobs.  We need to replace much of this infrastructure anyway, because at this point, it qualifies for AARP benefits.”

In his speech, Norris remarked that America’s energy issue is “the biggest big-picture challenge we face as a country right now.”

There’s no doubt that natural gas is imperative to help reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and satisfy other clean energy goals.

“No matter where I look in the energy debate,” Norris said, “it seems like it all comes back around to natural gas.”

We couldn’t agree more.

On Sunday morning volunteers from our members and staff worked on community service projects from fence building, to working in food distribution vans to cleaning up areas still damaged by last year’s devastating floods.  Then our work week started in earnest with committees meeting for two full days on Monday and Tuesday culminating Tuesday evening with the conference and exhibit grand opening reception.  The hall was packed as we visited as many vendors as we could…all the while enjoying the Southern hospitality and food that seemed to be everywhere we turned!

Conference sessions started Wednesday morning with subjects ranging from gas quality to safety, to public awareness and plastic materials.  As well as presentations from AGA staff and industry experts, we heard from senior PHMSA, NARUC and NTSB reps.  Make no mistake; this is THE natural gas operations event!   There was standing room only for our first DIMP sessions on Wednesday afternoon so we quickly moved subsequent DIMP sessions into the Ballroom.  Attendance at the DIMP sessions was beaten out only by the General Session!  With 120+ presentations over the course of the week, this event really did offer something for everyone.

On Friday we closed out the conference and gave attendees a chance to unwind with a round of golf at the beautiful Gaylord Spring Golf Links.

If you followed #agaops on Twitter during the week, you’ll know there was time for work and play and attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and AGA staff had a great time!  Be sure to check out our gallery and see if you can find yourself.

Juanita Spence from our operations team is working on a blog post for later next week with more about what happened at the event. Some of you might remember Juanita from her updates on twitter during the conference. In the meantime, we’ve had so many requests for photos I wanted to get a quick post up letting you know where you could find them.

I always ask people to take pictures when they go places I don’t get to go and I think you guys will be interested in the photos. The OPS team came through with flying colors. Debbie smiled when she handed me the jump drive and said, “we’ve got a few pictures we’d like to post.”

A few?

Try 200.

I pulled out some of my favorites below to give you a taste. Be sure to leave a comment if you were at the conference and had a good time. We enjoy reading those. You can view the entire collection on Flickr (we’re working on adding them to our Facebook page, too). We also broke them out into sets so it would be easier for you to find specific things.

• Awards
• Awards Breakfast
• Breakout Sessions
• Exhibit Hall
• Signs and Breaks
• Volunteers and Staff

Have fun, we sure did!

First, as a good part of my world functions around the web, I wanted to let you know that we started a twitter hashtag for the event. It’s #agaops. So, if you’re commenting on the conference use #agaops with your tweet and anyone searching #agaops on twitter will see the message. Juanita Spence, part of our operations team, has already started tweeting about the event and even posted a few pictures.

You can also use the hashtag if you’re looking for help with something. We’ll be monitoring #agaops and will try to point you in right direction when we see your question. Twitter is great to use if you need help at the actual event. I’ve used twitter at events before to find people at the event when I didn’t have their contact information readily available or was in a place too loud to talk. People are already starting to use it, including a few of our exhibitors. Maybe there are a few giveaways in our future .

Second, be sure to visit the event landing page on aga.org to get copies of conference materials. They’ll be around the registration and exhibition areas to be sure, but in a pinch, here’s a link to download what you need to find your way around.

You’ll find everything from the conference-at-a-glance to the final program, and even a listing of the exhibitors and fun things to do in the area. I went ahead and grabbed the conference-at-a-glance for tonight and tomorrow for you. Click the image below to get the full pdf.

Finally, and most important, be sure to take advantage of being at the event. While we’ve all learned to get amazing things done by collaborating in our digital worlds, there is no substitute for actually being to look someone in the eye, smile and say “hello.” These are the type of networking events that help build lifelong relationships. So, when you’re at the Grand Opening Reception this evening, take a little time to make a new acquaintance.

Leave us a comment below or jump over to twitter and let us know what you think. Be sure to use the #agaops hashtag so we can find you. Here’s a link if you want to learn more about hashtags and how to use them.

AGA Chairman and President and CEO of AGL Resources, John Somerhalder and President and CEO of Ameren Missouri, Warner Baxter addressed conference attendees giving a CEO perspective of customer service in the utility industry.

In addition to low-income, other topics explored in the general session context were energy efficiency, customer satisfaction, smart grid, energy theft and social media.  Each of these are of significant concern to today’s utility customer service leaders.  Many of these topics were explored in greater detail in the breakout sessions. Breakout tracks included: Call Centers, Credit and Collections, Billing and Payment Processing, Commercial and Industrial Account Management, Meter Reading, Field Service, Revenue Protection and Low-Income/At-Risk Customers.

Industry partners filled nearly 60 booths in the exhibit hall and shared products and services complementing utility customer service with attendees.  Networking sessions provided opportunities for attendees to connect with both colleagues in other companies and industry partners.  Many existing friendships were strengthened and many new networking connections were developed.  At the Tuesday Evening Social at Raglan Road Irish Pub our own Angelo Shaw from Laclede Gas Company played his sax with the band on several numbers and brought the house down! You can see pictures from the conference below. We posted even more to our Flickr stream.

We are looking forward to continuing the success with this year’s conference next year at the 2012 AGA/EEI Customer Service Conference and Exposition and Low-Income/At-Risk Customers Best Practices Workshop at the Omni Fort Worth in Fort Worth Texas April 30, 2012 through May 3, 2012.  Keep an eye on the AGA website for more information.

Lord of the Shadow Watchers, Czar of the Land Beavers, King of the Rodents, Master of Marmots and the Grand Poobah of Woodchucks is, of course, the one and the only Punxsutawney Phil of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  

In fact, many towns that celebrate Groundhog Day throughout our temperate continent have their own burrowing forecasters including, Smith Lake Jake, Staten Island Chuck, Shubenacadie Sam and Wiarton Willie.

The preservation of these regional celebrities is undeniably a display of faith in the power of the groundhog to predict the weather forecast for the next six weeks.

AGA cannot speculate if a groundhog can predict the weather.  We can, however, remind consumers that natural gas, come snow or sun, will save you money and energy. 

If spring does come early, as Phil seems to believe, you will still enjoy all the comfort and peace of mind that natural gas in the home delivers.  Perhaps you will be able to fire up your gas grill a little sooner, which will save you money and energy when cooking.

Or maybe, Phil is wrong and winter will linger.  Not to worry, friends.  Heating your house with natural gas for the remainder of winter will keep those long hot showers affordable and eco-friendly.

Let us know below what you think of Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction…is it just wishful thinking?