“Owning our own distribution line is huge,” said Christina Thompson, Community and Economic Development Coordinator of Shelby.
Shelby has its own electric, water, and sewer utility lines. Thompson said, ‘The advantage to this is if there is a problem, it is addressed immediately.” The electric plant used to generate power daily. Now, however, it is used only for emergency or demand responses.
Shelby now purchases power from American Municipal Power (AMP) and American Electric Power (AEP). Thompson said, “We are purchasing different types of power and that is because we want to have a wide variety of what we can pull from. We don’t want to limit ourselves.” The main source of power purchased is coal because it is less expensive than the alternatives, such as hydroelectric.
Shelby owns the electric poles and electric wires. Thompson said, “Shelby has a line crew and if there is a problem we can get right out and fix it. We don’t have to wait for a crew to arrive to the area.”
“The longest outage in 2012 lasted about three hours,” said Director of Utilities, John Ensman. Ensman said, “Research is being done on diesel and natural gas generation for the light plant. The generators would be used for transmission peak shaving, demand response, system voltage, and emergency power.”
At the Wastewater Treatment Plant, there is an 1800 kilowatt diesel generator that is in use. Ensman said, “This generator is used for emergency backup power to the Wastewater Plant, transmission peak shaving, and system voltage support.”
“When MTD moved onto State Route 39, they wanted to make sure they were in town so they could receive the utilities that Shelby provides,” said Thompson. Thompson stated that the outages that do occur in Shelby, typically do not last long because workers are available on the spot.
The tree-trimming program in Shelby is essential to being able to provide quality performance to the community. The lines are trimmed annually and aggressively. In 2012, Ensman stated that approximately 800 hours were spent hours towards tree-trimming.
In April 2012, Shelby was named by the American Public Power Association (APPA) as one of the most reliable and safest utilities in the country. Shelby received the platinum level of Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3). RP3 recognition carries a number of benefits because it shows that utilities can be depended on and can provide potential cost savings.
