Friday’s town board retreat began with Kathy Moyer with ElectriCities explaining how that entity came about and how it helps the 73 cities in North Carolina who own and operate their own power systems.
Those cities, she said have 42 percent fewer outages than other systems who use power from Duke Power, which is the sole provider for Wake Forest Power. The largest percentage of Duke Power, Moyer said, is produced by nuclear plants, and only 10 percent is from coal plants, which Duke is committed to retiring. Solar, wind and hydro are increasingly part of the power mix, and Commissioner Adam Wright interjected that more nuclear, some of it innovative also plays a part.
Moyer said that the portfolios for the power mix continue to change, adding renewables and cleaner technologies. N.C. public power customers experience 42% fewer outages and are without power 36% less time compared to both investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and rural electric co-op customers not specific to Duke Power.
Chris Terrell, the electric utility (Wake Forest Power) director, then began outlining what his crews and equipment do, 24 hours a day, to provide reliable power to about 8,000 customers using 300 miles of line.
That power line is fast going underground, he said. This year the ratio is 60-40 for above as compared to underground, and in 2025 it will be 50-50, continuing to change to underground each year until it is complete. Terrell said that while they are taking down power poles and lines they are planting trees as replacement.
Wake Forest Power is growing each year, Terrell said, and in two years he expects it will have 10,000 customers. “When I was hired in 2005 we had 6,500,” he said.
The average outage is 47 minutes, meaning the town utility has a 99 percent reliability rating since he came here. WFP has had a 99% rating since 2007.
Wake Forest Power’s big problem is the cost of equipment, including transformers, which are vital. Last year they cost $25,000 each with a long wait time. That led to a two-step increase in customer rates to help pay for necessary equipment for the new homes, apartment buildings and commercial buildings.
WFP has a tru-up of 1 million dollars for its wholesale power purchase which will be paid over a 24 month period. WFP is hiring an independent group to help with a 10-year study on load forecasts and growth as well as system reliability improvements.
Terrell said he sees equipment costs becoming somewhat lower, and he wants to make sure future rate increases are much smaller.
Currently transformers are $14,000 each. Because of the steady residential growth, Terrell said, “We need inventory on the lot” so they are buying that inventory.
“Our policy on developments are: The developer covers construction costs including the cost of materials, engineering and general expenses. This cost will be divided evenly between the number of lots/units in the development and is currently collected with building permit fees. The average increase to developers is averaging around $1,200 per lot. Our labor is not added into this cost.”
Terrell and his crews are always looking for ways to cut the cost of the Duke power. For years the town and WFP have bought generators for large users like Walmart and WFP has installed smart meters everywhere.
Terrell said, “We use load management, or demand response, to control various electric loads during times of peak demand on the electric system. By managing large loads such as air conditioners, and water heaters, so they are not all on at the same time, WFP is able to reduce wholesale power purchases and save money for the town, where during that one hour of the month wholesale power is around $22 a kilowatt. Off peak times it is around $.03.
“The way we do load management is voltage reduction through smart meters and run generators at larger commercial businesses such as Walmart.
Voltage reduction means we do drop voltage system-wide by 1 or 2 volts to shave off cost during this peak hour.
“Duke Energy Progress and the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA) filed a settlement regarding the latter using batteries to shave its peak demand. This had nothing to do with Wake Forest’s generators. It also now allows for a small amount of qualified generation, allowing us to use more of our generator’s kilowatt during peak demand.
“Solar is available on a first-come, first-serve basis and shall not exceed 5 percent of the town’s retail load for the prior calendar year. The generating system, without battery storage, is connected in parallel with the Town and any amount of energy delivered to the Town this way, the customer producing it will receive a credit for all kilowatts at a rate of $0.03273 cents per kWh.”
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