While drafting our cooperative’s annual reliability report for the Iowa Utilities Board recently, I went a step further and graphed our cooperative’s reliability over a 20-year span. I thought it would be interesting for the Board of Directors and our consumer-members to have an in-depth look at our outage details from last year, and reliability trends over 20 years.
In 2023, 24% of the total customer outage hours were due to a public contact incident involving a field sprayer and another 25% were the result of underground cable failures. To address the latter, this year our crews will complete a five-year project to replace failing underground cable targeted by past evaluation. Other earmarked initiatives to reduce outages over the last decade included vegetation management, line rebuilds, animal guards, lightning protection, system protection optimization, and advanced controls. Our objective is to stay nimble in our reliability efforts by continuously evaluating system performance to ensure that dollars are directed toward the most impactful projects.
So, what have been the results of a targeted approach to improving reliability? Below are Clarke Electric’s 20-year trends for three key reliability indices commonly referenced in the industry. As you can see from the graphs, Clarke Electric has a history of continuous improvement. These are trends that we can stop and celebrate as they stem from many years of concentrated efforts by past and present, Clarke Electric staff. You, the consumer-member and/or landowner, have also played a pivotal role through partnering with us on initiatives such as vegetation management, assisting our crews with your equipment when roads are impassible, watching out for powerline equipment in your operation, etc. This relationship pays tribute to our heritage of rural electric cooperative spirit and defines the “cooperative advantage”!
The employees and board of directors understand that reliable and affordable electric service are important to all of our members and we will continue striving to serve your needs!
