6.1h ERMUSR 08-10-2021______________________________________________________________________________
Page 1 of 1
UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO:
ERMU Commission
FROM:
Chris Sumstad – Electric Superintendent
MEETING DATE:
August 10, 2021
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
6.1h
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
DISCUSSION:
• Installed 12 new residential services, which involves the connection of a secondary line
once the customer requests service.
• Work continues on the Highway 169 Redefine project. The west side of Highway 169
near 197th Avenue is mostly finished. Work on the east side will continue for a few
weeks with new underground 500 MCM wire and switchgears, along with overhead
poles and switches, being installed. Another crew is currently working south of the
movie theater and across the highway near KFC to reroute a feeder line.
• The bore crew has crossed Highway 169 twice with new 500 MCM underground feeder
wire. They finished the installation of the wire along the highway on both sides near
197th Avenue. They installed some primary wire near Northbound liquor and will
continue to move south.
• We continue to experience long lead times when ordering many of our inventory items.
Transformers have some of the longest lead times at 25-30 weeks. Many other items
are 16-20 weeks out. Our inventory procurement specialist has done a good job of
staying on top of items to get them here when we need them. The long lead times look
like they will continue for the foreseeable future.
• Thermal imaging revealed hotspots on the paddles above the recloser for Feeder 62 at
the North Substation. The feeder line was taken out of service and the paddles were
cleaned and re-bolted on July 13.
• A contractor dug into our primary wire in the Hillside 12th Addition on August 2. This
knocked out power to 20 houses in that development. Other small outages that
occurred this past month were caused by: an underground primary line that went bad,
two failed underground secondary house services, a bad overhead transformer, and a
few tree and squirrel contacts.
• Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association safety coordinator Cody Ravelling was here on
July 28 for pole top and bucket rescue training. This is completed annually by required
employees.
105