GMP Earns Spot on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies List for Pioneering Cost-Effective Solutions Including Battery Storage to Cut Carbon Emissions

COLCHESTER, Vt. – Green Mountain Power (GMP) announced it is among Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the World for the fourth year in a row, with the influential magazine highlighting GMP’s commitment to groundbreaking programs that reduce carbon emissions and costs for all customers. Other companies on the 2020 list include Snap, Shopify, Tesla, and Microsoft. GMP is the only utility honored in the top Ten for Energy category, landing at number three, up from five last year. GMP has made the list in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

“This is an exciting honor for GMP and our state and we are grateful to be able to partner with customers and with communities on so many innovative projects that help to lower their costs and carbon emissions at the same time,” said Mari McClure, GMP’s president and CEO. “We continue to focus every day on finding new ways to increase affordability for customers through innovation.”

In its March/April issue, Fast Company highlights GMP’s innovative energy storage programs which lower costs for all customers and provide resiliency in the face of emergencies and increasing severe storms due to climate change.  “The Vermont utility is pushing hard to create a more distributed energy grid in the state by offering incentives for customers to buy batteries. Green Mountain Power was able to drastically reduce energy costs during a summer heatwave, taking the equivalent of 8,000 homes off the grid.”

“This is great for team Vermont and says a lot about the leading-edge work that happens in this state. GMP is collaboratively delivering solutions to critical issues facing Vermont businesses today – costs and climate change. It does not surprise me that GMP made the list again, showing a continued and strengthened commitment to making progress and helping improve our state through innovation,” said Lisa Ventriss, president and CEO of the Vermont Business Roundtable.

GMP launched multiple initiatives in 2019 that break the mold while advancing the goal of increasing reliability and helping customers cut carbon emissions and costs. They include a commitment to having a 100% carbon-free energy supply by 2025 and being 100% renewable by 2030, well ahead of utilities its size around the country. GMP also helped more than 600 customers switch to driving electric through rebates and other incentives that both help to lower costs for all GMP customers and will offset more than 28 million lifetime pounds of carbon.

“At a time of increasing global volatility, this year’s list showcases the resilience and optimism of businesses across the world. These companies are applying creativity to solve challenges within their industries and far beyond,” said Fast Company Senior Editor Amy Farley, who oversaw the issue with Deputy Editor David Lidsky.

Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out the most groundbreaking businesses on the planet and across myriad industries. They also judged nominations received through their application process. The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

Fast Company’sMost Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2020) is now available online at fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2020, as well as in app form via iTunes and on newsstands beginning March 17, 2020.

You can learn more about all of GMP’s programs to help customers reduce carbon emissions and costs.

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Since 2011, Fast Company has received some of the most prestigious editorial and design accolades, including the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) National Magazine Award for “Magazine of the Year,” Adweek’s Hot List for “Hottest Business Publication,” and six gold medals and 10 silver medals from the Society of Publication Designers. The editor-in-chief is Stephanie Mehta and the publisher is Amanda Smith. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found at www.fastcompany.com.

About Green Mountain Power

Green Mountain Power (GMP) serves approximately 266,000 residential and business customers in Vermont and is partnering with them to improve lives and transform communities. GMP is focused on a new way of doing business to meet the needs of customers with integrated energy services that help people use less energy and save money, while continuing to generate clean, cost-effective and reliable power in Vermont. GMP is the first utility in the world to get a B Corp certification, meeting rigorous social, environmental, accountability and transparency standards and committing to use business as a force for good. GMP earned a spot on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the World list four years in a row (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020).  J.D. Power’s 2018 and 2019 rankings put GMP among top utilities for customer satisfaction. In 2019 and 2020 GMP was named “One of the Best Places To Work in Vermont” by Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, and was the winner of the Deane C. Davis Outstanding Vermont Business of the Year Award in 2019.

Kristin Kelly, Green Mountain Power
(802) 318-0872
[email protected]

This is an exciting honor for GMP and our state and we are grateful to be able to partner with customers and with communities on so many innovative projects that help to lower their costs and carbon emissions at the same time.

Mari McClure, GMP President and CEO