Rate increase for 2012
Due to a power cost increase of 6.5% from our provider, Nebraska Public Power District, the rates from Twin Valleys Public Power District will increase by 4.1% for 2012. Additional increases in costs of materials and fuel have put further stress on the cost of providing electricity.
Twin Valleys Public Power District has experienced a 9% increase in our system load in 2011 and there are improvements that need to be made on a yearly basis to make sure reliable service is provided to you. In 2012 there will 2 substations that will be upgraded to improve reliability. One substation will be converted from 34.5kV to 69kV. This is part of a large overall project to allow transfer of loads to perform preventive maintenance or reroute power during an outage. The other substation, which was constructed in 1949, needs to be rebuilt because of its condition.
There will be 10½ miles of backbone distribution line rebuilt. This line extends north and south of Oxford. There will also be additional 3-phase lines built to provide service to new irrigation services.
Raising rates is not enjoyable for Twin Valleys Public Power District, but increased costs need to be covered so necessary improvements to our electrical system can be accomplished. Our focus is always on you and being able to provide electricity when you need it. This requires a reliable delivery system that needs to be expanded and upgraded consistently.
Large power outage
On Sunday, November 6th, Twin Valleys Public Power District experienced an outage that affected the western part of our service territory. This included the towns of Bartley, Cambridge, Holbrook, Danbury, Lebanon, Wilsonville and Hendley. The rural area affected went to almost Beaver City and Edison, south to the Kansas line and north of the Medicine Creek Reservoir area.
The cause of the outage was a fault that occurred on the 69kV transmission line 10 miles south of Cambridge, which affected several substations. A hawk had gotten into a switch at this location and caused the fault. In the process of attempting to restore power, the switch at this location would not operate properly. An effort to route power differently to the affected customers was initiated at NPPD’s 115kV substation near Cambridge but there were numerous equipment problems that occurred, slowing down the efforts to restore power. This prolonged the outage and it was over 4 hours before power was fully restored to the area affected.
Twin Valleys Public Power District regrets the inconvenience that this outage had on many of its customers. We also appreciate your patience as sometimes what appears to be a short outage takes an unexpected turn, causing more problems for our customers.
A Change at Twin Valleys Public Power District
David Custer is the new Director of Operations for Twin Valleys Public Power District. With the retirement of Mike Langley, David was promoted from his position as Apparatus Supervisor.
David has been with Twin Valleys Public Power District for 22 years, the past 12 as an Apparatus Tech and Supervisor. In his time in the Apparatus department he learned the ins and outs of Twin Valleys Public Power District’s substations and was involved in system planning and load management.
“I feel I am part of a team” according to David, “that keeps the operations of Twin Valleys Public Power District running in a safe, reliable, and efficient manor.”
Twin Valleys loses a board member
Twin Valleys Public Power District lost a long time board member when Dallas Ott of Republican City passed away on August 18th. He had been a member of Twin Valleys’ board since January 1, 1983.
Dallas represented Twin Valleys Public Power District on the Nebraska Rural Electric Association Board of Directors since 1993. He was attending the Nebraska Rural Electric Association board meeting when he passed away. During his time on this board he served as Treasurer, Vice President and then President for two years from 2004-2005.
Dallas also represented Twin Valleys Public Power District on the political action committee ACRE (Action Committee for Rural Electrification).
His dedicated service to Twin Valleys Public Power District and its customers for the past 28 years will be greatly missed.
Twin Valleys Public Power District experiences record demand for electricity
Twin Valleys Public Power District broke their peak load record on Sunday, July 31st between 6 PM and 7 PM. The estimated demand during this time period was 46,942kW which was a 8.2% increase from the 2010 record of 43,377kW. Sunday was a hot, windy day and there was no irrigation load control needed which lead to the new record that day.
The main reason for the increase in demand was the addition of nearly 2900 horsepower in conversions to electric irrigation in 2011. The new peak load was handled without problems. "It has taken a lot of planning, engineering and execution from our dedicated employees to increase our irrigation horse power by 59% since 2007" said James Dietz, General Manager. "The support from our customers converting to electric pumping is actually helping improve service for all customers as new 3-phase lines are constructed to either replace older lines or in some cases to provide a new connection now or in the future so power can be fed from 2 directions", Dietz concluded.
Twin Valleys PPD’s newest piece of equipment is shown on the right reaching the top of the 60 foot pole.
