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Going Underground As you may remember, we had a major ice storm in mid-December that severely affected parts of our system. At its peak, we had nearly3,800 members out of service, although most of these members had their service restored in less than 24 hours. As bad as this was, our system was not hit as hard as others in the northwest part of the state. During outages, we are often asked why we don't put the lines underground where they would be protected from the ice storms and tornadoes. Until fairly recently, underground cable was not as reliable as overhead, and it did not last as long as overhead conductor. Underground cable is also more expensive to put in than overhead. As our system grows, we determine whether it is best to install underground or overhead conductor. We use underground in many of the new areas that we serve, and will sometimes replace existing overhead lines with underground lines. However, it is not feasible to replace all of our overhead lines with underground. We currently have over 3,600 miles of overhead lines on our system. The going rate for underground installation is $11.88/foot, which means that it would cost our members over $225,000,000 to fully convert our system to underground. This cost does not include the cost to retire the poles and wires of the overhead system. We would have to borrow money from RUS (formerly REA) for this project. The monthly payment for a 35-year loan for $225,000,000 at 5.5% interest is $1,208,286. We currently serve 13,000 meters, so dividing that $1,208,286 by 13,000 would mean that each of you would have to pay an additional $92.94 per month on your electric bill. So what can be done to help reduce future outages? It would be very helpful to us if you would allow us to trim or remove any trees that are close to our overhead lines. This will help prevent broken limbs, or the tree itself from falling into the lines and causing an outage. If we remove one of your trees, we will give you a new tree, which will be planted by a professional from a local nursery at no cost to you. More information on our Tree Replacement Program can be found on this web site. I'm proud of the way that all of our employees worked during the December ice storm. Many of them worked long hours in cold and wet conditions. We will continue to do our best to keep your lights on, and we appreciate your patience and understanding during those times that you are without service. |
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