As you can see from the chart below, in 2019, your Cooperative experienced a five-year low for outage time per member account: 37 minutes. In fact, it was the fewest outage minutes per member in the history of East-Central Iowa REC! There were no major weather events last year, which contributed to this success. More critically, our efforts to execute our Construction Work Plan and maintenance program continue to pay off for our members.

Our Operations team has been hard at work on our 2020 Construction Work Plan, and regular maintenance projects are also underway.

» ECI REC is enhancing the reliability of its distribution system by replacing a batch of fuse cutouts with an identified manufacturing flaw with better quality versions. In 2019, we replaced 1,091 units and will replace the remaining 300 in 2020.

» The 2017–2020 Work Plan is near completion. Projects for 2020 include replacing 51 miles of distribution line—34.3 miles of overhead and 16.7 miles of underground line. In late January, ECI REC’s overhead contractor—Highline Construction, Inc., of Paynesville, MN—began working on 1.3 miles of overhead line near the Homer substation. They will work on the remaining 33 miles of overhead line throughout the system during the next few months.

» Vegetation control will be done on the Karr and Fairbank substation circuits. The contractor, Midwest Spray Team and Sales, will complete 100 miles on the distribution system in 2020. Maurer Tree Service, LLC, will be the contractor for 195 miles of tree trimming and vegetation maintenance on the Quasqueton and Lindahl substation circuits.

» By the end of April, ECI REC Operation Centers will have received almost 75 miles of overhead conductor—that’s 49 spools, or nearly 298,500 feet! We’re also getting 35 reels (nearly 96,000 feet) of underground conductor. 

» To stay ahead of the growth and demand occurring on the south side of Independence, a new transformer was ordered over a year ago for the Sumner Substation. This larger 10 MVA transformer is scheduled for delivery and installation in March.