(Paulding, OH)- One of the constants at Paulding Putnam Electric Co-op (PPEC) is to continue to provide reliable power to its members. In order, to accomplish this, PPEC must prioritize upgrades and maintenance to its infrastructure on a regular basis. This year PPEC has already completed a $1.2 million upgrade to its Ottoville Substation. “The Ottoville area has seen steady growth over the last several years and this upgrade will extend capacity and assist with new potential growth,” stated PPEC Engineering Manager Steve Kahle.
The next big project begins this month (October) and will be the rebuilding of Miller City’s electricity infrastructure. This plan includes replacing all poles, conductors, and lines, along with upgrading the street lighting to LED lights. The only exception is the main three phase line along State Route 108 will not be replaced yet, due to some proposed planning from ODOT.
Miller City’s Mayor, Jim Erford stated, “It’s nice to have things upgraded, PPEC has always been reliable before, so this will be a welcomed installation and a great benefit for Miller City.”
“The goal is to have the construction complete by the beginning of November, but once done, Miller City residents will see improved reliability and service quality. Plus, another noticeable difference will be the updating of all their street lights to LED, “stated Kahle.
“This rebuilding of the electric service system in Miller City will improve service and safety to the local residents. Further, this is part of our mission; to support our communities and provide quality electric service, by completing this major rebuild of our services in Miller City, we are fulfilling our mission,” added President and CEO George Carter.
In addition, to replacing dated poles and lines, PPEC has an aggressive tree trimming program, which also aids in making sure the lights stay on. “The main cause of outages for PPEC 10 years ago was tree related. Now our outage figures are some of the lowest in the state. This has everything to do with PPEC making a commitment of reliable service for our members,” said Operations Manager, Ted Slusser.
Along, with all these measures PPEC also conducts regular pole testing, to make sure poles withstand weathering. “In 2016, 4375 poles were inspected with close to 200 poles being rejected. “Our crews, along with contractors have replaced almost all of those rejected poles this year,” said Slusser.
“We made great progress in 2017, and hit substantial milestones, but our work is not done here,” said President and CEO George Carter. “We are committed to implementing infrastructure upgrades every year which will result in stronger reliability and peace of mind for our members.”
