Georgetown Electric presents draft five‑year CIP; meters, voltage conversion and pole work highlighted
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Summary
Chief Business Officer Jack Daly presented a draft five‑year capital improvement plan (CIP) for the electric utility that emphasizes capacity upgrades, a meter program, voltage conversions and pole/pole‑attachment work. Daly said the utility's current rates can support the presented plan and identified projects that have flexibility in timing.
City of Georgetown Electric staff presented a draft five‑year capital improvement plan (CIP) and explained how load forecasts, engineering and financial models produce the utility’s capital and staffing priorities.
Jack Daly, chief business officer for the electric utility, told council the plan ties into the utility’s peak load forecast and identifies both system improvement projects and general‑plant investments (vehicles, meters and technology). He said the utility runs three concurrent models — engineering, staffing and finance — to inform project timing and financing choices.
Why it matters: The electric CIP determines near‑term investments in reliability and capacity and influences rate decisions, debt planning and possible customer charges for new development. Daly said the plan is an early input to the budget and bond rating processes.
Key projects and costs highlighted
- Meter upgrade (AMI/line 6 in the slide set): Daly identified a substantial meter replacement and infrastructure program in the 3‑year window; the slides presented amounts in the multi‑million‑dollar range (the presentation itemized a roughly $7–10 million meter program).
- Voltage conversion: The utility plans targeted voltage conversion work (notably in and around the Southwestern area) and overhead‑to‑underground conversion projects in early years; Daly described these as multi‑million dollar investments to improve reliability and simplify sectionalization.
- Substation and feeder work: Daly referenced a partnership with the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) tied to a future substation and noted the need to extend feeders to customers once a substation is available. The staff presentation referenced a facility development agreement with LCRA.
- Pole attachments and make‑ready: Daly said a significant portion of make‑ready costs for pole upgrades is driven by telecom companies applying to attach fiber; the telecom attachers often pay to upgrade poles when necessary but the utility budgets for planned pole replacements.
- Electric operations center and vehicles: Daly said the utility is studying a new electric operations facility and land acquisition (design and build) and is planning for vehicle and specialized equipment replacement cycles.
Daly told council staff had smoothed the CIP’s “lumpiness” and that the utility’s current rates can support the plan “without significant rate changes.” He identified items with more timing flexibility (new development accommodations, the operations center and the AMI meter project) and noted the team is preparing an electric resource‑plan update and plans to present the CIP as part of upcoming budget work.
Public comment and council input: Larry (public commenter) asked the utility to select dark‑sky‑compliant streetlight fixtures during future conversions. Council members asked technical questions about underground vs. overhead outages and life‑cycle replacement planning; Daly and staff discussed inspection and replacement policies and acknowledged that some underground repairs can be more difficult to locate but that the utility has specialized crews to troubleshoot subterranean faults.
Ending: Daly said the draft CIP will feed the budget and bond‑rating processes and staff will return during the budget cycle with a planned, financed CIP and additional details about cost‑recovery, fees and timing.
