WHEREAS, Virginia has a long history of responsible and reliable electric utility service to their customers since the early days of electrification in Virginia; and,

WHEREAS, investor-owned utilities, first appearing in Virginia as early as 1888, and providing the first electricity to the Commonwealth starting in 1909, have served their ratepayers well, providing reliable, environmentally-sensitive electric service to Virginia consumers; and,

WHEREAS, beginning in the 1930s, the provision of electricity began to make its way into the  farms, homes, towns, and villages of rural America and the Commonwealth thanks to the creation of Rural Electric Cooperatives, which are electricity providers owned by those they serve, to whom they provide reliable, affordable power; and,

WHEREAS, municipal utilities also play an important role in electrifying the Commonwealth,  providing reliable, cost-effective local electric service to the citizens of numerous Virginia cities  and towns; and,

WHEREAS, Virginia’s electric utilities employ a special class of employees—electric line workers— responsible for building and maintaining the distribution lines that bring electricity to customer homes and businesses, constantly devoting themselves to their duty; and,

WHEREAS, electric utility line workers consistently and valiantly serve all Virginians, providing them with reliable, affordable electricity, and do so by installing electric service, repairing damage after storms, providing for their own continuing education and training, and maintaining the highest standards of safety and professionalism, often putting themselves in harm’s way in order to restore power after outages caused by inclement weather and natural disaster, and always endeavoring to “keep the lights on;” and,

WHEREAS, the line workers of Virginia’s electric utilities and their example of service above self are deserving of the respect, admiration, and appreciation of all the citizens of the Commonwealth;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Glenn Youngkin, do hereby recognize April 18, 2022 as ELECTRIC UTILITY LINE WORKERS DAY in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of our citizens.