Published: May 08, 2008 12:53 pm            

Power loads to increase

Leaky seal sidelines transformer

As spring weather turns into summer heat, electric companies are preparing for the increase in their product’s demand.

For Duncan Power, though, the increased load means a tripped transformer will have to be repaired to provide for its customers adequately.

The transformer, damaged by a leaking seal, has been off-line since March when it caused about 2,800 Duncan Power customers to lose power briefly.

David Yeager, electric utility director, said replacing the 32-year-old unit with a new one would be costly, so the city opted to put in an older unit from another station.

“These transformers are very expensive, so instead of buying a new one or renting a new one, we took an old one from Bois d’Arc and put it out at our Plato substation,” Yeager said.

The Bois d’Arc unit, however, is not as large as the original Plato unit, creating a need to redistribute the supply to other areas that can handle the excess. To do that, thinner electric distribution wires will have to be replaced with thicker ones in certain areas.

“The transformer went out at Plato substation, but the work isn’t at Plato substation,” Yeager said. “It’s on Oak in the alley between Third and Sixth.”

The city originally tried to bid out the work, which will take about 15 Duncan electric employees two hours overtime on weekdays and five hours on Saturday for three to four weeks to complete. Smaller groups will be working on the project during the regular work day, as well.

But repairs to lines damaged in the winter ice storms caused the six companies asked to quote the job to return bids with “no quote,” citing their own workload is too much at this time to take on the project.

City Manager Clyde Shaw told Duncan Public Utility Authority trustees at a special meeting Monday evening to address the bids that if the work was not done in-house, the utility authority would not be able to keep up with demand as it peaks.

The city, he reminded them, has the ability and the equipment needed to do the work.

There’s no estimate yet as for how much the repairs will cost because there’s no way of knowing exactly how long it will take the electric employees to finish the job, Shaw said.

The funds for the project will come out of an electrical emergency fund set up a number of years ago after a squirrel caused more than $1 million in damages to a substation at U.S. Highway 81 and Elder.

Duncan Power customers shouldn’t notice any change in their electric supply while the repairs are going on, Yeager said, adding that the work will be done without turning any power supply off.

        

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