6.1f ERMUSR 08-08-2023______________________________________________________________________________
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UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO:
ERMU Commission
FROM:
Chris Sumstad – Electric Superintendent
MEETING DATE:
August 8, 2023
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
6.1f
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
DISCUSSION:
• Installed 11 new residential services, which involves the connection of a secondary line
once the customer requests service.
• Along with the new 500 mcm underground wire for the Feeder 44 project to Otsego, we
also installed single phase underground wire along Parrish Avenue. This allowed us to
convert the houses on the west side of Parrish to underground and eliminate the road
crossings over Parrish. Crews recently switched over the last customer and will start tear
down soon.
• Crews are currently rebuilding a section of overhead line near Highway 10 and Upland
Avenue. The bore crew also installed 500 mcm underground wire along Vernon Street
from Highway 10 to Meadowvale Avenue. This allows us to reroute our feeder line away
from Upland Avenue and is related to the future County Road 44 Highway
reconstruction.
• Mi-Tech was here in July and tested around 250 of our wood poles. This is done
annually, and this year seven were found to be defective and in need of replacement.
• The bore crew recently started underground primary replacement in the Pascal Street
and 199th Avenue area of Elk River. This will replace cable which is over 40 years old,
unjacketed, and susceptible to underground faults.
• Joe Schmidt from Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association was here on July 27 and
conducted pole top and bucket rescue training. This is done annually and is attended by
the office staff, as they also train on taking mayday calls from the field.
• Crews finished work at the Cargill Complex in early July. Work there involved installing
new primary wire, rerouting existing wire and installing two new three phase
transformers to the new lab and new feed mill. Work finished up with connecting the
primary loop feed back together ensuring redundancy.
• Line crews along with the meter shop replaced a disconnect blade on a feeder at Station
14 substation. This heating issue was detected with the thermal imaging camera during
a routine substation check.
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