The 100 Most Trustworthy Companies
In April 2010, NorthWestern Corporation was recognized by Forbes.com as one of "The 100 Most Trustworthy Companies," which recognizes American businesses that have the most transparent and conservative accounting practices and most prudent management according to Audit Integrity, an independent financial analytics company in Los Angeles. Audit Integrity looks beyond the raw data on companies' income statements and balance sheets to assess the true quality of corporate accounting and management practices. Audit Integrity finds that its 100 Most Trustworthy Companies have consistently demonstrated transparent and conservative accounting practices and solid corporate governance and management. To create the list, Audit Integrity scans more than 8,000 companies traded on U.S. exchanges and periodically assigns each company an accounting and governance risk score, or AGR, based on proprietary modeling designed to identify practices that historically have had a high correlation with increasing shareholder risk. For the the full story, click here.
ServiceOne™ Award
NorthWestern Energy received the 2008 ServiceOne™ Award, marking the fifth year in a row that the company won this award. The ServiceOne™ award, presented by PA Consulting Group, recognizes utilities for providing exceptional service to their customers.
In addition to receiving the overal ServiceOne award, NorthWestern Energy also received the inaugural Balanced Scorecard Acievement Award in the category of Credit & Collections.
The ServiceOne award recognizes companies for providing exceptional service to their customers as determined by a set of 25 objective measures of excellence in customer care, identified by a panel of industry experts. Participating Polaris companies must achieve top quartile on the ServiceOne scorecard to be considered for the ServiceOne award.
Edison Electric Institute Emergency Recovery Award
NorthWestern Energy received the Emergency Recovery Award presented by Edison Electric Institute (EEI) in January 2007. NorthWestern was cited by the industry trade organization for “outstanding efforts in restoring disrupted electric service” in South Dakota during and after an ice storm in November 2005.
The EEI Emergency Recovery Award recognizes member companies that put forth outstanding efforts to restore service promptly to the public following a natural disaster. Selection was based on the company's ability to respond swiftly and efficiently, overcome difficult circumstances, utilize unique or innovative techniques, communicate effectively with customers, and restore service promptly. The judges for the award consist of a panel of industry experts. NorthWestern Energy is among the following utilities to be recognized this year: Ameren Corporation, Duke Energy, Hydro One Networks, National Grid, New York State Electric & Gas.