Utility presents 2024 reliability metrics; Coldwater outperforms several investor‑owned peers

Coldwater utility staff presented 2024 reliability metrics at the Oct. 1 Board of Public Utilities meeting, showing relatively short average restoration times and a list of common outage causes, and outlined steps to reduce outages going forward.

Andrew (last name not provided in the transcript) told the board Coldwater’s average restoration time was just over an hour — "62" minutes — and that a typical outage duration (referred to in the presentation as roughly 28 minutes) represents the average customer experience. He said the utility recorded 70 outages in 2024 with vegetation, animals (mostly squirrels), equipment failure, vehicle accidents and weather as the primary drivers. "Vehicle accidents are one that we haven't seen this high in a while," Andrew said, noting pole strikes along US-12 are often longer-duration events.

Andrew compared Coldwater’s historical outage indices with investor-owned utilities and noted the utility’s participation in APPA’s eReliability Tracker for benchmarking. He emphasized mitigation strategies such as prioritized tree trimming, selective overhead-to-underground conversions, preventive asset management and the use of drone inspections to identify poles at risk of future failure.

Board members had no substantive questions and thanked staff for the presentation. Staff said they plan to return with additional detail on proposed inspection programs and capital prioritization.