Brian, the city’s power department director, told the Kaysville City Council on Oct. 16 that the local municipal utility is preparing for major changes in how wholesale power is bought and sold and described a near-term equipment failure at the Nebo (Payson) natural‑gas plant that supplies a large share of Kaysville’s generation.

The presentation opened with operational and system numbers: Kaysville serves about 11,921 electric customers across roughly 10.5 square miles and recorded a citywide energy use of 169,530,463 kilowatt‑hours last year, the highest on record. Brian said the city has 15 power‑department employees and is completing a multi‑year program to replace aging underground conductors and rebuild substation equipment.

Why it matters: the council heard that two developments could raise costs or require operational changes for the city’s power utility. First, a turbine failure at the Nebo (Payson) plant took a large generator offline; Brian said Nebo constitutes roughly 40% of Kaysville’s owned resources and is currently running a simple‑cycle mode that provides about 66 megawatts while repairs proceed. Second, Pacificorp’s decision to join CAISO’s Extended Day‑Ahead Market (EDAM) means the balancing authority will require day‑ahead scheduling and could buy and dispatch municipal resources in the pooled market, reducing day‑to‑day local control.

Brian described EDAM as an “extended day‑ahead market” that will go live in May 2026 and requires participants to report expected loads and resource availability by 9 a.m. the preceding day. “They will purchase everything from us day to day,” he said, explaining that EDAM buys members’ generation day‑ahead and then the participant purchases back what it needs at wholesale prices on the day‑of. He warned that although the program aims to lower wholesale costs by moving energy where needed across the Western grid, it will “completely change the way the pool project works” and that municipal participants may lose some ability to call resources on demand.

Council members asked how priorities would be set if the pool experienced shortages during high‑demand events. Brian said municipalities retain first priority for energy they’ve procured to meet their own needs, but if a member’s forecast is short and the council relies on the pool, EDAM penalties and replacement procurements would apply. He said contract language and penalty structures are still under development and that UAMPS (the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems) and its legal team plan a November meeting to further discuss governance and member protections for any “all‑requirements” project being considered.

Nebo repairs and contingency plans: Brian said technicians found worn parts inside a gas turbine that caused severe vibration; the unit was disassembled for inspection and repair. He told the council that Nebo is expected to return to fuller capability if repairs go as planned but that the city may need to procure fixed‑price replacement energy in the short term if the turbine remains offline through winter peak months. He said staff was awaiting a detailed report from UAMPS staff (Kellen) and expected more information imminently.

Infrastructure work and operational notes: Brian reviewed ongoing capital work, including replacement of aged direct‑buried feeders (2400 volt sections more than six decades old), pole replacement in the King Clary area, the completion of the Shick substation transformer and continued construction at Burton. He highlighted that a transformer at Shick likely prevented a major pole fire and noted current lead times and cost increases for new substation transformers — roughly $1.1 million two years ago rising toward $1.5 million today, with multi‑year lead times. The department is also piloting time‑of‑use rates and reviewing EV charging and rebate programs done through UAMPS.

Council response and next steps: council members pressed for contract language that protects municipal priorities and asked staff to bring written analyses and model language back to the council. Brian said he will circulate UAMPS and EDAM documentation to council members, follow up on the Nebo repair timeline, and present any recommended contract or pool‑project changes to the council before the November governing‑body meeting he described. He also invited council members to tour ongoing field projects and the utility’s work crews.

Ending: The city plans to review draft EDAM governance materials from UAMPS and the pool project contract documents and to return with clearer budgetary and operational impacts once UAMPS completes its analyses. Brian told the council the transition could produce benefits but also “a lot of growing pains,” and he recommended council review and public briefings as the program design becomes firm.