WCEC Linemen can easily be seen working during a stormy power outage as they look for a blown transformer or fuse, or as they repair sections of downed line. But where can they be found on a typical sunny Tuesday afternoon? During the weekdays, when they are not riding to the rescue, WCEC line crews spend their time performing construction work to maintain, repair and build new lines. The latter, building new lines, is something they’ve been doing a lot of lately.
Since February there has been a steady increase in requests for new service installations, which translates to new construction jobs. The number of open construction jobs, those waiting to be built, averaged around 150. Summer is always the busier time for construction, but by the month of June, the backlog of jobs more than doubled to 340.
While growth of our system is always welcome, the abundant number of jobs has been challenging to keep up with. Because there were so many requests, wait times for installation of new underground services spanned over 16 weeks, and overhead services required an 8 week wait. Naturally, some members have been frustrated with this wait.
There are several factors that worked together to cause the extended wait times including Winter Storm Uri, outages related to the following spring storms, and then an unusually long rainy season spanning from April to June that left the grounds saturated. Lastly, the aforementioned very large volume of requests.
To help decrease the delays and ease members frustration, we instituted several measures. First off, we extended the working hours of WCEC’s 5 construction crews. They have been working longer days and rotating weekends to complete jobs as quickly and safely as possible. Then, we assigned the 2 contractor crews, typically devoted to system improvement and routine maintenance work, to help with the new construction. In addition, we added 3 more contractor crews dedicated to just building new lines.
These measures have been successful in helping us get jobs completed. By the end of July, the number of open jobs was down to 230. Also, the underground service construction wait time decreased from 16 weeks to 10-12 weeks, and the overhead service wait went from 8 weeks to 2-3 weeks.
A job is placed on the construction schedule after all easements, contribution in aid to construction, and permits are collected. Then underground facility locates are requested and marked. At this time, engineering releases 50 to 60 jobs to construction per week. With the additional crews, and the extra hours and weekend rotations for WCEC linemen, they are now building, on average, about 75 jobs per week.
Line Superintendent Ramon Steward stated, “I’m extremely proud of our crews, and our contractors, for their dedication and hard work that is getting these jobs completed. I’m even more grateful for the fact that they are getting the jobs done safely, because at the end of the day, building it right for our members, and then going home to our families, is our main goal.”
For the foreseeable future, the construction challenges will be with us, it seems. The extra contractor crews have helped tremendously with reducing backlog of jobs, so we feel like we have a better foothold. Soon, it will be time to return our focus to performing our scheduled maintenance work. Beginning in September two of the contractor crews that have been helping with the new construction will return to performing this work. Maintenance work is an extremely critical aspect of ensuring reliable electric service. While this will slow the pace of new construction just a little, rest assured, WCEC’s line crews, complemented with the remaining contractor crews, will continue to work hard to reduce the backlog of new construction jobs.
We offer a hearty thanks to all of those members who have extended their patience and understanding as they waited their turn. And for the ones still in que, please know we are working hard for you.
