QUARTERLY UPDATES FROM POWER COMPANY WANTED
Multiple Evergy representatives addressed the topic of reliability concerns of electrical service within Platte City, and committed to a quarterly update for elected officials.
The discussion came at a forum hosted by the Platte County Commission on Monday morning held during the commission’s regular administrative session at the Platte County Resource Center.
“We have heard you, we understand that the reliability is not what you want it to be,” said Janet Waddell, senior manager of customer solutions for Evergy.
Power outages in Platte City that customers and government officials are considering too frequent and too lengthy have spurred complaints. Those complaints have been spoken in public online forums by customers and spoken in person to Evergy representatives by local government officials.
Power outages in Platte City are not a new thing. Reliability issues have plagued the electrical system in the city for decades. Outages in the downtown business district have been frequent, and some customers say they believe the problem is getting more frequent.
The general area of the city that has been hit with frequent outages can be described as north of Hwy. 92 into downtown and south of Hwy. 92 along the Second and Fourth Street corridors. It is essentially everything west of the Platte County R-3 campus, city officials say.
Waddell explained one action that has already been taken is an extensive tree trimming around lines through Platte City. That project was performed over the summer, wrapping up in mid-to-late August, she indicated.
In addition to the tree trimming, Waddell said in 2023 Evergy “will continue a larger (effort) to replace, rebuild and add infrastructure” serving Platte City.
Tim Jones, senior manager of metro service center for Evergy, said his goal is to “get service back up to what it needs to be” in Platte City.
Jones said the company wants to get the substation located near the orange water tower along Hwy. 92 across from the high school “cleaned out” and use more automated equipment. He indicated Evergy will eventually get rid of that substation, which is viewed as old and unattractive by many passersby. Jones said Evergy realizes the community has recently spent a lot of money on the school complex and “we want to make sure we’re not noticed at that location.”
He said the plan is to in 2024 have a backup feed of circuits coming from Weston that would provide a backup feed for power into Platte City during times of service interruptions in Platte City.
Justin Pippitt, manager of distribution system engineering for Evergy, said the company’s numbers show in the first six months of 2022 there were 44 unplanned power outages affecting Platte City. Over the final six months of 2022 there have been 33 unplanned outages he said, with 23 of those 33 happening in the months of July and August. Pippitt said most of those outages were affecting one or two customers at a time, and that most are storm, weather, vegetation, and include times of public damage such as vehicles hitting power poles, etc
Since the end of August, there have been just 10 outages in Platte City, Pippitt said. The end of August is when the extensive tree trimming wrapped up, Evergy officials say.
The time length of outages has also been a point of outrage for Platte City customers. One unofficial count by local Evergy customers indicates there have been four outages of about eight hours or more over the course of the past year or so.
Pippitt said companywide, Evergy lists average length of a power outage at 90 minutes. Platte City’s average in recent months has been about 98 minutes, he indicated.
Waddell emphasized there is not a quick fix for Platte City’s power situation but “we are on a path” for a long term solution.
Pressed by officials for more specifics on a timeframe, Waddell said that “excellence doesn’t come with just a couple of steps it comes from continuous improvement.”
Officials from Platte County and from the City of Platte City have been pushing Evergy for improvements in reliability.
“We all understand when the electricity goes out during a major storm. But our power grid should be strong enough to defend against an overly aggressive squirrel,” Joe Vanover, second district county commissioner, said recently in response to a recent Evergy outage the company said was caused by a squirrel. “It’s time for Evergy to do what it takes to provide reliable electricity to Platte City.”
Frank Offutt, former mayor of Platte City, said this week that “it’s a challenge to represent Platte City as a great place to live” when it is plagued with power outages.
Alicia Stephens, a longtime Platte City resident and the former head of the Platte County Economic Development Council, remarked that it would be helpful if Evergy would make its plans, timeline and goals public.
“Some accountability on progress would be helpful,” Stephens said.
Tony Paolillo, current Platte City mayor, said power in downtown Platte City would go out very frequently 15-20 years ago and after some pressuring from the city, improvement was seen but now reliability is bad and getting worse.
Paolillo said he wants to know “why did reliability get bad” and why does it take pressure from public officials for the power company to acknowledge the need for improvements.
After requests for an update from members of the public and from the elected officials, Waddell said Evergy would commit to coming back to county commission sessions to give updates. It was suggested a quarterly update would be helpful, and a tentative time of March was set for the next report from Evergy.
Ron Schieber, presiding commissioner who was leading his final meeting in the office as his term expires at the end of the month, said regular updates from Evergy might help officials and the public be able to see if there’s a “light at the end of the tunnel.”
Schieber added: “It’s not the end of the world but we can do better.”