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Power department reports May peak, substation construction and AMI progress
Summary
Utility staff reported a May system peak of about 42.7 megawatts, ongoing substation construction and regulator deliveries, work on transmission conduit and pole attachments, progress integrating AMI billing and metering software, and a recent brief outage caused by construction equipment.
Utility staff provided the Power Board with a monthly operations and generation update on June 3 that covered peak demand, substation construction progress, AMI deployment, transmission work and a recent outage.
Key points - May peak and operations: Staff reported a May peak of about 42.7 megawatts, roughly 6 megawatts higher than the previous May and described as about a 17 percent increase versus the prior May peak. Staff said generators were run beginning the prior Thursday and that pre‑purchased gas supplies began Sunday; units are expected to run through September for 4–8 hours a day depending on system needs. - Substation construction: Crews have received steel deliveries and started foundation work for new transformer pads; rebar cages and conduit work are in progress and the first concrete pour for a pad occurred during the reporting period. The Grapevine substation and associated transmission work and a well‑line rebuild on the west side of a new development were identified as main projects for the next fiscal year. - Transmission and line work: Staff reported receiving revised drawings from a manufacturer and progressing toward fabrication releases. Crews continue conduit work in the Red Hills Parkway/Red Ledge Road area to improve feeds to Canyon Breeze and nearby industrial customers. A transmission switch removed near I‑15 and Main Street will be repurposed to the Grapevine line. - Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI): The main focus remains integrating the billing system (Springbrook) with the meter software (Clara 1). Staff said they will deploy a small number of meters for internal testing — possibly to board members or city employees — once they have reasonable confidence in the software integration and billing accuracy. - Pole attachments and agreements: Staff said they combined comments from multiple communications providers into a single attachment agreement and will send the consolidated draft back to the companies for signatures. - Outage report: An excavator struck a single‑phase line on 5500 West, briefly interrupting service for approximately 30 minutes; staff said no injuries occurred. - Power cost adjustment (PCA): Staff said the power cost has leveled off at a little over 8 cents per kilowatt‑hour and that the PCA balance remains negative by about one to one-and-a-half cents, with an expectation it will stabilize in coming months.
Why it matters: The department’s reported rapid load growth and construction projects have procurement and scheduling consequences. Staff emphasized long equipment lead times, coordination of off‑season outages and planned procurement to minimize service disruptions.
Board reaction and follow‑up Board members asked clarifying questions about substation names and locations and thanked staff for the update. Staff said they will continue to report project progress and AMI deployment milestones to the board and the City Council as appropriate.
Ending: Staff noted upcoming design and procurement steps for projects funded in the next fiscal year and said they will return with more detail as schedules and bids are firmed up.
