North Central Electric completed 2014 with one of its best outage records in the 79-year history of the cooperative.
Consumers were without power an average of less than one hour in 2014. It marked the third time in the past 10 years the figure was below one hour and the sixth time it’s been below two hours. The national standard is five hours per consumer.
A lot of factors go into the strong mark. Maintenance is a year-round job, but now that the weather is improving, line crews will be able to keep jobs moving right along. With nearly 34,500 poles supporting North Central’s 1,786 miles of line, keeping lines in good working condition, clearing vegetation and keeping up with current electric industry technology is vital to maintaining service reliability.
Construction projects
North Central finished 2014 with 9,649 active services, down 14 from 2013. This marked the seventh straight year the number of active services has declined. To contain costs, North Central continues to use its own crews to rebuild lines instead of using contractors.
The cooperative will replace 15 to 20 miles of lines this year. A five-mile rebuild project was completed in Scipio Township, tying the Republic and St. Stephens substations in Venice Township near Attica. They have been converting another five miles of single-phase line to three-phase that will allow the cooperative to loop service between its Bascom and Carey substations. In the event of outages, this tie line will allow the cooperative to isolate an outage and backfeed power from the adjacent substation, with the hopes of reducing the length of the outage for the majority of members. Other rebuild projects are planned in Lyme Township in Huron County and in Thompson and Clinton townships in Seneca County.
Pole testing
Pole testers will survey approximately 7,500 poles this year. If the pole is broken or rotten, it is replaced. Pole inspections will be done in Green Creek and York townships in Sandusky County; Adams, Thompson, Reed and Venice townships in Seneca County; Lyme, Sherman, Norwich, Richmond and New Haven townships in Huron County; Auburn Township in Crawford County; and Plymouth Township in Richland County.
Tree trimming
Trimming and removal of trees and vegetation is critical to maintain reliability. Clearing vegetation around the lines reduces outages and blinks caused by trees contacting lines in storms and high winds.
Throughout 2015, North Central plans to spend upwards of $183,000 for tree trimming. Right-of-way work will be centered in Pleasant, Clinton, Adams, Scipio, Bloom, Thompson, Reed and Venice townships in Seneca County; Green Creek and York townships in Sandusky County; and Lyme, Sherman, Norwich and Richmond townships in Huron County. North Central has contracted with Oberlander’s Tree & Landscaping of Bucyrus for the right-of-way work.
GPS surveying
North Central is nearing completion of a six-phase field audit and GPS process, locating all pole contacts and their corresponding locations. GPS surveying will be done in Hopewell, Loudon, Scipio and Bloom townships.