Board approves electrical distribution system study to guide 20-year planning

The City of Odessa board voted 6-0 to approve Resolution 2026-15 authorizing the mayor to sign a work authorization agreement with Al Jear Martin and Associates Incorporated for an electrical distribution system study.

City administrative staff said the study will create a detailed, load-based model of the citys electric system that goes beyond basic mapping to analyze voltage, line types and actual load capacity. "They're going to give us suggestions on how to make improvements to the system over the next 20 years," Sean said, describing the studys outputs and how they will feed into the utility rate study.

Supporters told the board the model will let staff run scenarios and test sectionalization strategies to reduce outage sizes and overall system losses. "If there's an outage on this circuit and 400 people are out, if you add sectionalization somewhere on that line, you can reduce that outage to now only 200 people," Sean said.

The board recorded the motion and a second; Alderman Winston is recorded as having seconded the motion, and the resolution passed by voice vote, 6-0. The resolution authorizes the mayor to execute the work authorization; contract details and project schedule beyond what was discussed in the meeting packet were not specified.

Why this matters: staff said the study will provide operational recommendations that can lower the citys system losses, which are passed through to residents via the ECA calculation and therefore affect monthly bills. The study is described as a planning tool to align future capital investments with measured load needs rather than anecdotal experience.

Next steps: the mayor is authorized to sign the work authorization; staff will report back with contract execution and project milestones as they become available.