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Electric utility plans undergrounding, capital spares after sharp equipment price increases
Summary
The city's utilities manager outlined plans to continue burying overhead electric lines, buy capital spares for critical substation switchgear and replace aged equipment; he warned transformer prices have risen dramatically and urged pre‑purchasing critical spares to avoid long lead times.
Kevin Kari, the city’s utilities manager, told the council the electric utility will continue its long‑term program to place primary lines underground and cited a need to buy capital spares for critical switchgear at Summit Substation because manufacturing lead times are now 75–90 weeks.
Kari said the utility is 95% underground and plans to phase more conversions of older 2,400‑volt facilities to modern standards when undergrounded. He emphasized the risk of long lead times for critical equipment and urged buying selected spares to avoid delays.
Kari also highlighted an extreme price rise for transformers, noting that over a five‑year period transformer prices he tracks have increased roughly 430 percent, driven by supply‑demand shifts and tariffs. He said the utility is prioritizing replacement of aged cable and transformers and flagged the practice of mutual aid among municipal utilities for sharing equipment when feasible.
Why it matters: the electric utility provides city power and faces long lead times and rising capital costs; buying spares and accelerating undergrounding will affect capital budgeting and reliability.
Ending: Kari said staff will include capital‑spare procurement and undergrounding projects in the utility’s long‑term financial plan and return with prioritized spending recommendations.
