Powerful Presents on Web Accessibility and Website Analytics at Washington Public Utility Districts Association Annual Meeting
SUQUAMISH, WASHINGTON — Powerful participated in the Washington Public Utility Districts Association (WPUDA) Annual Meeting, held April 28th through April 30th at the Suquamish Clearwater Resort Casino in Suquamish, Washington. The event marked WPUDA’s 90th anniversary under the theme “Stronger Together,” bringing together public utility district leaders and staff from across Washington state.
Powerful Website Solutions Consultant Caleigh Pickard led a session for PUD communications, marketing, and public relations professionals focused on three areas central to modern utility communications: web analytics, ADA compliance, and social media accessibility. The session drew attendees from PUDs across the state, with extended follow-up conversations from members of the Kitsap PUD team, whose service territory hosted this year’s meeting.
“PUD communicators are doing meaningful work for the people in their service territories, and they want their websites and social channels to reach everyone, including customers using screen readers, captions, or assistive technology,” said Caleigh Pickard, Website Solutions Consultant at Powerful. “We spent real time on the practical side: what analytics actually tell you, where ADA risk most often shows up on a utility website, and how to make social media posts accessible without slowing down your team. The questions from the room reflected how seriously this group takes their responsibility to the public.”
Several long-standing Powerful clients and partners participated in the meeting, including Clallam PUD, Cowlitz PUD, Grays Harbor PUD, Kitsap PUD, Mason PUD 3, and Pacific PUD; all of whom Powerful designed, hosts, and manages websites for. Two longtime friends of Powerful, General Pacific and the Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA), were sponsors of the event. Powerful designed General Pacific’s website and has worked with the company for more than 20 years, and has long been a member of NWPPA, currently hosting, supporting, and managing the association’s website.
“WPUDA’s ‘Stronger Together’ theme is exactly how we think about our work,” said Charlie Stanley, CEO and Chief Web Solutions Architect of Powerful. “The communicators in that room represent utilities that serve real people; households, farms, small businesses, and tribal communities — and the standards they hold their digital presence to genuinely matter. We’re grateful to WPUDA for the invitation, to General Pacific and NWPPA for their continued partnership, and to Kitsap PUD for hosting such a thoughtful gathering in their backyard.”
Powerful’s work with electric cooperatives, public utility districts, and municipal utilities is built around the STAR Standard — Searchable, Translatable, Accessible, and Responsive — a framework the firm developed to help utility websites meet WCAG and ARIA accessibility requirements while remaining easy for the public to use. Sessions like the one at WPUDA are part of Powerful’s broader commitment to sharing that work directly with the communicators who put it into practice every day.
About Powerful
Powerful specializes in web design, hosting, security, and support for electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, public utility districts, broadband providers, and statewide trade associations. Powerful brings more than two decades of sector experience and an opinionated technical framework centered on accessibility, plain language, and the STAR Standard.
