Proactively Maintaining the Electric System is Essential to Reliability
Thomas W. Howard, CEO/General Manager
When you think of things that require maintenance to keep performing at their best, your car, home or property may come to mind. Many things that we own require some form of routine maintenance. At Callaway Electric Cooperative, it is no different. Cooperative vehicles need maintenance, our building and grounds need upkeep, and our infrastructure must be inspected on regular cycle to ensure optimal performance and reliability.
Callaway Electric Cooperative’s infrastructure includes more than 2,200 miles of electric poles, wires, transformers and equipment. That’s enough to stretch from Los Angeles, California, to Charleston, South Carolina. With the Cooperative being formed in 1936, the age of the poles, wires and equipment varies. Routine testing, review, studies, maintenance and upgrades are required to keep everything running in tip-top shape and to provide the safe, reliable electricity our membership has come to expect. It’s also financially prudent to keep a close eye on things, as it’s often cheaper to catch a small problem before it turns extensive and likely more costly to fix.
Annual pole inspections
Proactive maintenance processes are a continual process at Callaway Electric Cooperative. One component includes our annual pole inspections. This spring, pole inspections were performed in the Big Springs Substation area. Lee Pole Inspection was contracted to review the area and identify any poles to be changed or maintenance to be performed. While inspecting each pole, they looked for things such as woodpecker holes, insect issues, rotting or loose hardware. If a problem with a pole was identified, a job order was created for crews to address.
A robust maintenance plan is good business practice. Not only is maintenance an essential part of ensuring we provide reliable service, but we also have requirements from our lenders and insurance providers to meet certain metrics. For insurance purposes, pole testing and a stringent right of way program helps us manage premium costs and maintain quality coverage.
Upgrades to meet increased demand
Another recent maintenance task took place this spring at the Tebbetts Substation. Callaway Electric crews assisted our local transmission cooperative, Central Electric Power Cooperative (CEPC) of Jefferson City, with replacing a transformer inside the substation. This was needed to meet increased demand for electricity in the Tebbetts area. During the maintenance, substation wires and equipment were also upgraded to help maintain reliability of service to members in the area.
Upgrades like these are periodically done throughout the system upon recommendation from electrical engineers. The engineering team at CEPC does a periodic review of Callaway Electric Cooperative’s system to identify areas needing upgrades. The staff and board evaluate the results, which are added to the cooperative’s long-term work plans.
Maintaining clear right of way
Right of way maintenance is another important key to providing safe, reliable electricity to Callaway Electric Cooperative’s membership. Keeping a well-maintained right of way, clear of trees and brush, improves quality of service, decreases the number of outages, lessens the restoration time of outages and prevents many blinking light issues.
In mid-August low volume spraying will be underway as we have contracted Progressive Solutions, L.L.C. to spray the right of way served by the Fulton, Auxvasse, Holts Summit, Millersburg and Kingdom City Substations. We will send an email or letter notification to all members with meters in the affected area.
Spraying helps to prolong the effectiveness of mechanical clearing of right away. It also allows control of cost while still maintaining a clear right of way. Please note that every precautionary measure is taken not to harm any fruit, shade or ornamental trees, shrubs or bushes in maintained yards. The crews selectively treat tall-growing brush under electric lines, using products that encourage the growth of grasses and low-growing vegetation.
Spraying, clearing, system upgrades and pole/equipment maintenance are all important parts of providing safe, reliable electricity to our members. Thank you for allowing me to take you behind the scenes of some of these processes. If you have questions, please contact our office to speak with our Operations Management Team for more information.