Milton-Freewater reviews $6–7 million plan to upgrade city substations

Electric Superintendent Richard Jolly presented a multi-phase plan to upgrade Milton-Freewater’s electric system at the City Council work session on March 23, 2026. He told councilors the system faces "limited transformer capacity at Milton Substation," aging protection equipment and limited operational flexibility that together increase outage risk and duration.

Jolly laid out phased recommendations and cost estimates: "Phase 1 – Transformer Capacity Upgrade $2.86 million," Phase 2 – Reliability Improvements $1.17 million, Phase 3 – Milton Substation Modernization $1.1 million, Phase 4 – Relocate Milton Substation Transformer to Freewater Substation $308,000 and Phase 5 – Freewater Improvements $913,000, for a total of approximately $6–$7 million. He said staff has applied for a Grid Resilience Grant that would cover phases 1–3 and reduce the financial burden on ratepayers. A sample timeline in his presentation projects planning and engineering in 2026, construction in 2027–2028, and completion in late 2028.

Councilors asked about maintenance, peak load projections, solar options and constraints imposed by property size for substation improvements. Jolly noted the potential for a future fourth substation (described in his presentation as Phase 6) to support load growth and increase geographic redundancy. He said he presented the information to obtain council direction and that staff will bring a formal proposal back to the April 13, 2026 city council regular session for next steps on funding and design.