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Electric Director Wick outlines 2025 infrastructure work, EV rebate and warns of strain from fiber pole attachments
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Summary
Electric Director Wick told the council North St. Paul replaced 26 poles, handled 41 unscheduled outages (19 from a July storm), installed 12,800 ft of underground line and rolled out an EV charger rebate (~$250). He raised concerns about rising workloads from multiple fiber providers seeking pole and boulevard attachments.
Electric Director Wick presented the electric department’s 2025 year‑in‑review and a 2026 outlook to the city council, citing infrastructure upgrades, outages, customer programs and staffing initiatives. "From that list of inspections, we replaced 26 power poles," Wick said, adding the city also replaced 33 cross arms and addressed 28 pull tops in 2025.
Wick reported 41 unscheduled power outages in 2025, 19 of which were associated with a major July storm; excluding that event he said the average time from call to restored power was about 44 minutes and roughly 305 meters were affected by the larger outages. He highlighted capital work that year including about 12,800 feet of new underground installation and 2,400 feet of main‑line upgrades.
Customer programs and workforce development: Wick said the department introduced an electric‑vehicle charger rebate (about $250 for eligible home installations) and time‑of‑use metering for EV charger services; three customers had enrolled early. "If you submit the proper receipt and application, you can receive $250 for the install of the charger," he said. The department also reported about 29–32 distributed solar customers receiving credits when they send power back to the grid, and it runs an apprenticeship program through Northwest Lineman College with MMUA support.
Completed projects included burying and looping high‑voltage lines on Gerald Mohawk to improve reliability, burying a main feeder near 17th and Delaware and adding a backup feed for the Target store to reduce outage vulnerability; Wick said the Casey Lake park lighting project was finished to improve trail safety.
Wick flagged two operational risks for 2026: fiber providers attaching to power poles and supply‑chain pressures for pad‑mount transformers. He said multiple providers — including Lumen, MetroNet, Intrepid, Zayo and Arvig — are seeking attachments and boulevard trenching, and that the city has limited pole and boulevard space and a workload burden coordinating transfers, replacements and locates. "Every one of these providers wants to attach to our power poles," Wick said, noting the providers pay per‑pole fees but that the city still faces the coordination and labor workload to manage transfers and pole replacements.
On procurement, Wick described rising material costs and lead‑time uncertainty; he said some vendors declined to quote because they could not guarantee delivery times. He noted a consent‑agenda purchase of pad‑mount transformers was included in the packet to address availability. "There's not enough inventory for what utilities nationwide are asking for," Wick said.
Council members voiced appreciation for quick restoration times and safe crew operations during storms. Wick also recognized his electric superintendent (Ethan) and noted an MMUA award nomination. The council then moved to close the workshop after thanking department staff for the work in 2025 and plans for 2026.
