Community Facilities and Services – Electric Department
Introduction –
The City established its own electric utility in 1904 with the completion of hydroelectric facilities in Hobble Creek Canyon and the installation of poles and wires to deliver the energy to the its citizens. Since that time, the people of Springville have enjoyed the benefits of owning their own electrical system. The primary benefit of local public ownership is the ability of the citizens to have a direct voice in the operation of the utility and the allocation of its derived benefits. The Mayor and City Council are responsible for policy, rates, procedures, and all other matters concerning the operation of the municipal electric utility.
Public ownership and control allows the City to transfer a yearly determined percentage of gross retail sales (as the resident-owner’s return on investment) to the City’s general fund. This transfer helps defray the costs associated with the general operations of the City and reduces the City’s need for additional tax or fee revenues. The electric utility also provides street lighting and other electrical services as a general benefit to the Springville Citizens without a direct charge being assessed to the general fund. Local control of the electric utility system should be maintained to further economic and reliability benefits that accrue to the citizens of the City.
Continued growth and reliability on the Electric system requires a consistent, knowledgeable and diligent commitment to the capital improvement and upgrade of the supply, transmission and distribution resources of the City. The system has seen steady growth over the last 25 years and will continue to see moderate growth as the economics of the area continue to improve and development moves forward.
Physical Facilities –
During the early years, most of the energy required within the city was generated through the hydroelectric facilities that were constructed and operated on the water sources in the Hobble Creek and Spring Creek Canyons. Since those days, the City has entered into numerous contracts, agreements, and constructed additional generation, distribution and transmission capacity to provide the power needs of the city residents, businesses, municipal facilities and other power customers.
Currently, the City is a member of the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS). This organization allows for each member to participate in projects based on their system requirements and manage collectively all of the resources for the good and economic benefits of each member. The City is a member of several projects that include wind, natural gas, hydroelectric, and coal-fired generation. UAMPS is also the entity that has secured extensive interconnection agreements with the area balancing authority to allow for the reliable flow of resources from generation points to the City’s delivery point.
The City is also a member of the Southern Utah Valley Power Systems (SUVPS) organization. Along with three other cities and one service district in south Utah County, the City has capacity ownership in a transmission system and substations with transformation capacity to deliver the resources that are acquired through UAMPS and other sources to the City’s main receiving substation.
The City’s main receiving substation is the Baxter substation. This substation is located west of the Evergreen Cemetery and has been constructed and upgraded with redundant sources to allow for reduced interruptions and greater reliability due to line disturbances. The interconnections are a part of the SUVPS system. The transmission is at 46,000 volts and originates at the Rocky Mountain Spanish Fork substation and the SUVPS Dry Creek substation. Both of these substations are interconnected to the area 138,000 volt grid that gives the delivery points a robust backbone of capacity and reliability.
From the Baxter substation additional 46,000 volt transmission lines source and loop around to the existing distribution and generation substations located within the city. There are currently 4 distribution substations, one industrial substation and one generation substation at the City’s Whitehead Power Plant that connect to the City 46kV transmission system (See map for locations).
As part of the capital improvement plans an additional transmission line is currently being constructed out of the Dry Creek substation that will interconnect with the new Hobble Creek substation and eventually interconnect with the Stouffer-Nestle substation. This improvement will greatly enhance the capacity and reliability into the industrial areas of the City.
The Distribution substations are the facilities with power transformers that then step-down the 46,000 volt capacity to a 12,000 volt capacity that is then distributed over multiple circuits to the service areas of each of the substations. Each circuit is protected and monitored by relays and protective devices that allow for secure and reliable delivery of electricity to all customers.
The City generation currently consists of 2,000 kilowatts of hydroelectric facilities and 28,000 kilowatts of dual-fueled natural gas generators. This capacity is operated and scheduled into the resource portfolio as needed and when available as in the water flows to the hydroelectric generators. The Whitehead Power Plant is also capable of black starting when the larger transmission grid fails. This then becomes the primary back up for the Wastewater Treatment facility as well as selected circuits within the city if the city were to ever become an island operating without connection to the main grid supported by the local transmission company.
Objective –
An electric system that has the facilities necessary to deliver the resources needed to meet the demands of capacity and energy of the customers connected in a safe, reliable and economical manner.
As the city continues to grow, it will be necessary to update the capital improvement plans as well as monitor and maintain all existing facility investment through good budget processes. Energy efficiency, conservation programs and smart grid technology will be evaluated and implemented as warranted to improve the quality and reliability of the system and stabilize the rates to customers.
It is a goal of the department to provide the best customer service possible with the highest level of reliability and stable rates. The department strives to communicate with customers about electrical safety, energy efficiency and conservation, project planning, construction and operating improvements.
Strategies –
- Update Ten-Year Capital Improvement Plan and associated impact fees for the reliability and economic benefit to existing and future customers
- Continue to plan and carry out system maintenance for safe, efficient and reliable operations
- Continue to provide for current power needs and long-term growth power needs that will maintain stable rates for customers
- Coordinate upgrade projects with SUVPS on existing substation and transmission capacity to provide for system redundancy to assure that reliable power is available to support current and future growth
- Aggressively pursue code and policy implementation that will promote and allow for conservation and installation of energy renewables