Outages decline for second straight year
For the second straight
year, the total number of outages
fell, according to North
Central Electric Cooperative’s
annual service interruptions
summary.
There were 332 outages in
2007 compared to 343 in
2006. The 2007 totals were
12 percent below the 10-year
average of 379 outages.
In 2007, consumers were
without service an average of
1.7 hours, down from 2.2
hours in 2006. The national
standard is five hours per consumer
annually.
Director of Operations and
Engineering Brad Warnement
attributes an aggressive maintenance
program to the strong
outage report. In addition,
crews continue replacing 234
miles of old Copperweld® line
that were damaged during the
2005 ice storm. A grant from
the Federal Emergency
Management
Agency is picking
up 75 percent
of the cost
of replacing
those lines and
poles damaged
from the ice
storm. Stronger
aluminum wire
is being used
to replace the
old, spliced
lines that were
damaged by
the ice storm.
Weather
caused approximately
41 percent
of the outages
in 2007.
Forty-three outages were
scheduled for maintenance
purposes.
Bird and animals accounted
for nine percent or 31 of the
outages. That figure has been
trimmed in half from 10 years
ago, thanks in large part to
the brown or white aluminum
wraps placed on poles. The
aluminum wrap prevents animals
from climbing poles with
transformers.
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