AEP considers burying lines

[Red Arrow]

They won't even put one extra wire on each conductor to reduce losses from more than 30% to 15%, so why would they bury lines?

Maybe because the public understands better looking neighborhoods but has no idea of the efficiency of adding a wire.  Just guessing.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Maybe because the public understands better looking neighborhoods but has no idea of the efficiency of adding a wire.  Just guessing.

And they shouldn't have to care about that.  It's not relevant to pretty much anyone's life until the whining starts about how much new generation capacity may or may not be needed.   Case in point, TX has two nukes that generate less than 20% of their power right now - noticeably less than wind power in the state!

Somehow the "clean solution" is to build more nukes...when all they have to do is add that extra wire and literally get two new nukes worth of power in the state!   They could spend $ Tens of millions - maybe a few hundred million - and save $60 Billion!!  (Approx price of new nukes.)

PLUS - NO EXTRA fuel costs!!   

[patric]

And they shouldn't have to care about that.  It's not relevant to pretty much anyone's life until the whining starts about how much new generation capacity may or may not be needed.   Case in point, TX has two nukes that generate less than 20% of their power right now - noticeably less than wind power in the state!

Somehow the "clean solution" is to build more nukes...when all they have to do is add that extra wire and literally get two new nukes worth of power in the state!   They could spend $ Tens of millions - maybe a few hundred million - and save $60 Billion!!  (Approx price of new nukes.)

PLUS - NO EXTRA fuel costs!!   

I recall at least one of those nukes at the Gulf of Mexico shut down because of the cold last February (when we had rolling blackouts here). I also recall this makes at least the third incident where Texas ignored warnings to weatherize their infrastructure, leading to massive failures.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I recall at least one of those nukes at the Gulf of Mexico shut down because of the cold last February (when we had rolling blackouts here). I also recall this makes at least the third incident where Texas ignored warnings to weatherize their infrastructure, leading to massive failures.

Baja Oklahoma more and more every day.

[patric]

If history teaches us anything, PSO can weasel out of burying lines by diverting the money to butchering our urban canopy.



The city's proposed franchise fee agreement with PSO would raise approximately $4.5 million a year to be dedicated primarily to improving street and highway lighting and to burying power lines.

"I think the first priority from the mayor's perspective is to have an aggressive program of burying power lines and converting highway lighting — all of our highway lighting — to more efficient and reliable LED," said Jack Blair, the city's chief operating officer.

City officials have been working with the utility for more than a year to hammer out the details of a new agreement. The existing 25-year deal is set to expire in July 2022, and the city is planning to put the new agreement up to a public vote on Feb. 8.

A franchise fee agreement sets out the terms under which private companies can use public rights of way and the associate fees.

Public Service Company of Oklahoma spokesman Wayne Greene said the utility continues to negotiate with the city over the terms of the agreement.

PSO currently pays the city 2% of its gross receipts generated within the city limits. That money — approximately $9 million a year — goes into the city's general fund to pay for day-to-day city operations.

The new agreement calls for the franchise fee to remain the same but adds an additional 1% charge that would be placed in a special revenue fund for the maintenance and repair of public ways.

The combined fee of 3% would be in line with Oklahoma City and other communities in western Oklahoma whose power is provided by OG&E.

Blair said as part of the proposed agreement, the city may require PSO to relocate lines underground with the difference in cost covered by the franchise fee.

"For example, if we are doing street work as we're doing over the next several years on Peoria from Admiral (Boulevard) to 51st (Street), as part of that street work, where we would already have to do utility line relocation, we can require PSO to relocate those lines underground instead of above ground, and the cost difference in doing that we can cover from that incremental franchise fee," Blair said.

He cautioned, however, that it is too early to say which areas of the city could see their power lines buried but said the city would prioritize projects that would help stretch available funding.

"It would really help mitigate the costs if we are undergrounding lines in areas where we are already doing street work," Blair said. "So coordination with the arterial street program would be first and foremost in terms of consideration."

Blair said the cost to bury a power line can range from $600,000 a mile to $2.5 million a mile.

"I think we can reasonably say that we can accomplish 25 to 30 miles or more of burying power lines in older areas of the city where they weren't buried as part of the subdivision in the first place," Blair said. "If you think of 25 or 30 miles in the context of some of our arterial streets, that really makes a pretty big impact over that 15-year period."

Greene said PSO routinely buries distribution lines in new developments where there are no existing lines.

"Burial of existing above-ground lines for purely aesthetic reasons is one of the things that could be funded with the new special fund at the city's discretion," Greene said.

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/proposed-franchise-fee-agreement-with-pso-could-raise-4-5-million-a-year-to-improve/article_36c66268-286d-11ec-97a7-b3655a36f2e5.html