The 26.4kv Utility Upgrade is back on the table - De je vu all over again

The 26.4kv upgrade was supposed to be discussed back in February but it got pulled from the agenda. However, tonight it is back on and the city wants to proceed with the 26.4kv voltage that is non-standard. Jack Borsch, our Utility director has said that "looking at the industry it is moving to the 26K systems more and more. It has grown to about 20+ % of the companies having made the conversion over to 26K."

Back in the Fall of 2014, the city went out on two RFQ's:
RFQ-13-14-403 to get the economic and financial value of our Electric Utility System.
RFQ 13-14-402 to ascertain the fair market value/appraisal of our Electric Utility System. Normally ones does this when they are contemplating a sale.

Back in May 2015:
RFP 15-201 to get the specifications for a new power plant anywhere from 65MW to 150MW. According to the city's web site, it was cancelled on November 20, 2015. Was the entire idea scratched?
9-2-15 Minutes from the EUAB to proceed with RFP 15-201.
12-2-15 Minutes from the EUAB where a presentation was given on the 26.4kv upgrade and recommended by that board to proceed to the commission.

Basically, we were all over the place back then--no one knew what to do with our electric utility other than just us regular citizens who were never asked. Staff wanted to ascertain the value of our asset, including analyses of what total sale price the City would have to receive for its Electric Utility System in order to be as well off, economically and financially, as if we were still the owner and operating the System. I agree that we should know what our assets are worth.

But now there are some on staff who want to bring back the upgrade of our voltage to 26.4kv. Is this January 2006 all over again? How about 2010?  Nothing ever changes. This is what happens.  New administrations, new staff, new utility directors, old plans, new commissions--and no one remembers anything or what all we went through to stay on the path to "standard."  Did we now find out that that value of our utility is far less than hoped?

Why are we even thinking of discussing a 26.4kv upgrade again?
We failed to complete the 13.2 kv upgrade project approved and funded by the 2004 Utility Bond.
Work on the 13.2 kV upgrade project was suspended in June of 2005, well before completion, after spending millions in material and man hours. The City Commission never approved halting the 13.2 conversion, nor was the public ever informed.

The standard is a 13.2kv. In 2001, a capital improvements program was put into effect for the electric utility. Per the former chair of the Electric Utility Task Force, Garrison Electric did the feasibility study and two PE engineers signed off on a standard upgrade path that would be compatible with all the surrounding utility companies and 99% of the rest of the country. Taxpayers invested about 5 million into the upgrade.

Then there was a Black and Veatch Study that confirmed the findings of the Garrison report which recommended a standard distribution voltage for Lake Worth. Somewhere around 2003, there was a study done by RW Beck on the feasibility of a second tie line. That "study" mysteriously disappeared just like the Garrison Report...the utility staff couldn't find this $325,000 RW Beck study which concluded that a second tie line was not feasible.

The Utility Task Force chair back then said--

The reason everything hinges on FPL …is that more than 90% of the power we consume comes through FPL lines, the rest from our own generation. So ask yourself, why would FPL interrupt their load flow, jeopardize the integrity of their system, invest in capital expenditure to provide the transmission path for an extra 100 megawatts of power that they aren’t going to be selling? Are they going to do all that for a 1% transmission fee? So, if this second tie line even has a prayer… Lake Worth will have to put something on the table.

Back in 2010, the city wanted to do the following:

• Systems relay upgrade: $250,000 over the next 2 years

• 138 kv Tie Line Addition:$4,041,150 over the next 2 years

• 4kv system upgrade: $13,522,000 over next 4 years

• Hand held Meter reading devices: $65,000 next budget

• 26kv OCB Replacement:$368,000 next budget

This totals $18,246,150 over 4 years.

The original bond amount was  $69,975,000  An expert on our Utility said, "FPL refuses to permit another tie, either to their line on Military Trail or north of 18th Avenue North." This new proposal puts the new 138 kv tie-line at the Canal Sub-Station. A full explanation is in order here.

A former contract employee at the Utility said, "The manual labor required to convert to 26kv is approx 5 - 10 times as much money as the conversion to 13.2kv. And that increase in labor will far outweigh the cost of new substation transformers." We have no idea what they are doing at our Utility but at the time, our former Utility Director, Becky Mattey said that the Commission will have no say on whether they go with 4kv, 13.2 or 26kv.

Perhaps the Electric Utility Advisory Board has called for a full accounting of the 2004 Bond money--where did it go? There should be millions. Why hasn't the Internal Auditor ever been directed to do an audit of our Utility?

We need to know what's going on and why some are hell bent on resurrecting a 26.4 kv upgrade when it was proven years ago that this was NOT the way to proceed and it could/would bankrupt our city. Why are some pushing this system? Is the $14 plus million dollars (remaining bond proceeds) burning a hole in their pocket?

Where I live, I am on the 4.16kv and it is always reliable. Tonight, in spite of years of testimony against the 26.4kv, it will be voted in.