Press Release
September 14, 2011
Contact: Shane Woolbright, (405) 323-2569
City of Waynoka Electric Department Recognized for Outstanding Electric Utility Accomplishment
The City of Waynoka was presented the Clarence Fulkerson Electric System Achievement Award for 2011 for outstanding utility operations by a municipal government. The award was presented in Tulsa at the annual conference of the Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma (MESO) and the Oklahoma Municipal League in Oklahoma City.
Over the past two years the City of Waynoka has taken steps to greatly improve electric distribution reliability and reduce operations costs through some $800,000.00 of investments in the local power system. A portion of that investment was made possible through stimulus funds from the US Department of Energy.
The city had been operating a portion of the system on 4,160 volts. These lines were converted to 12,470 volts which resulted in reduced line losses and improved reliability by converting a single feeder circuit to four circuits. This meant that any problem on the line no longer affected so many customers. Lines were also looped to allow consumers to receive power from two directions so that when a fault occurs, fewer people will be affected. Interruptions should be reduced by 90% with the altered delivery process.
The city’s substation where high voltage power is converted to lower voltage for local distribution was also upgraded to meet the requirements of the new voltage while 70 transformers and 150 power poles were also replaced. During the upgrade, rights of way were improved and trees were trimmed in most areas of the city to further improve reliability.
The total investment came to over $1,000.00 for each meter on the system which ranks as a very significant investment. This investment will be partially repaid with some $25,000.00 in annual operating cost reductions due to improved distribution performance and will also reduce operating costs and labor by a similar or greater amount.
MESO President Paul McAlexander, city manager for Pawhuska presented the award to the city. MESO is a trade association of over 100 public power systems in four states serving over 500,000 people.
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