By John McCallum
Editor 

Cheney Light to pass along BPA increase

Department is 'solid' as long as planned maintenance takes place

 

Last updated 11/9/2017 at 7:56am

John McCallum

A conversion from circuit reclosers to vacuum circuit breakers is one of the larger projects the Cheney Light Department has been scheduled in 2018 for its substations at Four Lakes and on Cheney-Plaza Road (above).

Nothing is simple when it comes to electrical power.

Take billing, for instance.

While customers look at two measures, base rate and usage costs, Cheney Light Department Director Steve Boorman has 21 different indicators from the Bonneville Power Administration to evaluate - 14 for power and seven for transmission. It's why BPA's announced increase of 5.5 percent for power isn't as simple as it seems.

"The 5.5 percent BPA increase is an average for the Pacific Northwest," Boorman said. "Each utility is different."

BPA is forecasting a 6.63 percent increase for Cheney, taking the city's power purchase from the regional provider from $5.66 million to $5.905 million in 2018. Of that $300,000 increase, $275,000 goes to BPA with the rest covering Cheney costs.

The only thing important to Cheney's 5,554 residential customers, however, is their base rate will increase by a proposed 3.41 percent from $14.10 to $16.43.

"There's no increase to energy costs, just the base rate," Boorman said. "Usage is still 6 cents per kilowatt hour."

Commercial rates are different. Single phase customers' base rates could jump from $15 to $20 while three-phase goes from $20 to $28.98.

Cheney's six industrial three-phase customers could see their base go from $30 to $75, while large power users such as Eastern Washington University could see a proposed increase from $30 to $100. The offset to these charges is the usage rate, which decreases at 15,000 kwh or less, but increases above that threshold.

It amounts to a 2018 budget of approximately $9.7 million, with $6.2 million of that taken up in buying power. Besides BPA, Cheney also purchases additional power on the Tier 2 market, which can often be cheaper and is currently at historically low levels, Boorman said.

The challenge is that power purchase takes place at the substation. By the time it reaches Cheney customers, line losses reduce the amount supplied. In order for the Light Department to provide a kilowatt of power, it must buy 1.05 kilowatts.

"It's like if you're buying yogurt at the store, you buy four ounces, but get only 3.95 because you can't get all of the yogurt out of the container," Boorman said. "That's our goal, is to get as much yogurt out of that thing every time."

Cheney line losses average 6.14 percent, and over a 10-year range have swung from a high of 7.1 percent to a low of 4.02 percent. Boorman said all utilities experience these type of losses.

Cheney's system capital investments - substations, transmission lines, poles and other electrical equipment - depreciates by around $500,000 a year through wear and tear. The department goal is to equal that with maintenance and replacement.

"We want to reinvest about that amount in our system to keep it whole," Boorman said.

The department is working at replacing about 2,000 feet of primary underground cables and 50 electrical poles per year, at a cost of $200,000 and $60,000 respectively. Light crews accomplished this in 2017 with a rebuild project between Fourth and Seventh streets, and will select another area of the city for a similar project in 2018.

The main aspect of Cheney's system that Boorman said keeps him awake at night is a need to replace the old, oil reclosers in the two substations with vacuum circuit breakers. The devices do essentially the same function - open and close a power line and protect equipment from transient voltage situations.

The difference is the circuit breakers are protection devices that provide more programmable control, with controls that can be remotely mounted while the reclosers are all self-contained. Boorman has budgeted $120,000 for this project.

Overall, Boorman forecasts almost $3.3 million in work over the next five years to keep the system functioning efficiently. That said, it's a system that's in good shape as long as the department keeps pace with its $500,000 annual depreciation rate.

"We're solid, it's a stable, mature system," Boorman said. "We're reinvesting wisely over time and continue to reinvest at appropriate levels."

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.

Author Bio

John McCallum, Retired editor

John McCallum is an award-winning journalist who retired from Cheney Free Press after more than 20 years. He received 10 Washington Newspaper Publisher Association awards for journalism and photography, including first place awards for Best Investigative, Best News and back-to-back awards in Best Breaking News categories.

 

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