Awards for Excellence

Awards for Excellence

Recognition for the Authority

Earlier this month at the American Public Gas Association (APGA) Annual Conference, the Authority received recognition for our comprehensive safety programs and safety record, along with a well deserved personal achievement award for CEO, James T. Sprouse Jr.

The APGA is an industry organization representing America’s publicly owned natural gas local distribution companies (LDCs).

There are approximately 1000 public gas utilities in the United States and York County Natural Gas Authority is the 11th largest with close to 70,000 customers.


2020 APGA Safety Contest Winner

These award highlights the dedication of the Authority to maintaining the highest safety standards within our operations, community, and in the natural gas industry. Entry for the award is based on a systems overall incident (lost work time) rate and man-hours worked between January 1 to December 31 of 2019. York County Natural Gas Authority was one of only 17 systems to receive the award for over 70,000 hours worked.


2020 APGA Personal Achievement Award

The Personal Achievement Award is given to individuals who have made substantial contributions toward the goals of APGA and the natural gas industry. Over the years, YCNGA CEO Jimmy Sprouse has served on a variety of committees with the APGA and currently serves on the Board of Directors. Within the industry at large, he has been involved with the APGA Research Foundation as a Board Member since 2012 and also served as Chair of the Gas Technology Institue (GTI) Utilization Technology Development Board. Jimmy is dedicated to promoting the benefits of natural gas for consumers and is well deserving of this year’s APGA Personal Achievement Award.

“A community owned public gas utility is directly accountable to the citizens it serves.”


The Benefits of a PUBLIC Natural Gas Utility

Public gas utilities have a huge impact on the communities they serve by providing clean, affordable, efficient and reliable natural gas service.  In addition a public utility provides the following benefits for the community:

Local Control: Having a public natural gas system gives a community local control over how gas is provided to homes and businesses. Decisions are made through citizen participation instead of being made in a distant city by people who do not understand local issues and who are primarily focused on profits instead of service.

Did You Know…
during most of the 19th century, natural gas was used almost exclusively as a source of light? Now the use of natural gas has expanded to home heating and cooking, appliances such as water heaters and oven ranges, manufacturing and processing plants, boilers to generate electricity and more.

Competitive Costs: In order to offer fair and competitive rates, public natural gas systems operate as a not-for-profit entity. Public natural gas systems do not face pressure to pay dividends to stockholders.

Economic Benefits: As a public natural gas system, public utilities play a valuable role in helping communities broaden its tax base, and in turn improve the local economy and increase jobs. Public natural gas systems ensure that local dollars stay at home.

Customer Service: As a not-for-profit entity the Authority’s focus is on service, rather than profits. Public natural gas systems are an integral part of a community maintaining a close relationship with customers.