In 11 years as director, Michelle Bertolino has guided Roseville Electric Utility to become one of the state’s most reliable, cost-effective electric services. With an economics degree and financial world experience as a CPA before her nearly 20 years with Roseville Electric, she’s ideal to oversee the utility’s functions, including power plants, electrical grid, maintenance and operations, finances, customer programs, engineering teams, and government relations.
“Our system is second to none in reliability thanks to how we built it, maintain it and expand it,” Michelle Bertolino, Director | Roseville Electric Utility
The electric utility industry is historically male-dominated, and Bertolino is unusual in her top leadership position. She’s seeing more women at various levels, though, and says, “There are more women rising to higher levels, so we’re sure to see more in leadership and in the pipeline in the future.”
When Bertolino became director, Roseville Electric needed to rebuild financially and improve its culture with a stronger focus on people. “We strengthened our finances to ensure we could maintain and manage our system and focused our team on moving toward our mission through better communication and collaboration,” she says. “By working with existing staff and hiring with that goal, we’ve created a premier workforce that I’m thankful to work with.”
Roseville Electric Utility is now one of the most well-managed, safe, reliable and low-cost utilities in the state. “Most important to us, after our workers’ safety, is reliability for customers — keeping the power on,” says Bertolino. “Our system is second to none in reliability thanks to how we built it, maintain it and expand it. On top of that, our customers’ bills are some of the lowest, if not the lowest, in California.”
As Roseville Electric moves into its new downtown Roseville headquarters this year, it will continue maintaining high system reliability and great customer service, as well as preparing for the area’s growth and working with the city’s economic development department to promote Roseville’s assets.
