52°F
weather icon Clear

City outlines electrical use past, future

Boulder City recently painted a picture of its electrical use for the past five years and gave a forecast for the next five.

Electric Utility Administrator Rory Dwyer presented the city’s draft electric utility integrated resource plan to the City Council at its June 26 meeting.

“This planning is the process by which the utility looks at their inputs and make sure it equals the outputs,” he said.

Additionally, the plan looks at new energy resources to evaluate all possible alternatives.

Dwyer said the city must complete the plan every five years because of the federal hydropower it receives from Hoover Dam through the Western Area Power Administration.

Members of the public are encouraged to read the draft and comment on it. The comments will be included in the final draft that is due to the WAPA by July 15. The public can view the plan through the city website, www.bcnv.org/DocumentCenter/View/4688/Electric-IRP-2018-22?bidId=. Any questions or comments can be sent to Dwyer at RDwyer@bcnv.org.

City Council members will consider adopting the plan at their July 10 meeting.

In addition to looking at electrical and alternative resources, the plan looked at the city’s energy consumption, which has decreased in the past five years and is forecast to continue to do so.

Dwyer’s research showed that, despite the town’s population growing an average of 0.5 percent in the past five years, energy consumption has been reduced by an average of 1.2 percent, lower than it was during the Great Recession.

Through the process, Dwyer looked at Boulder City’s population from 2009-2017 provided by the governor’s office and compared it to how much energy was consumed as well as the peak demand levels.

“Energy consumption is going down because as people replace old appliances the new ones are more energy efficient,” Dwyer said.

He also said the city’s electric rebate program helps with those replacements. That program allows residents to receive money back when they replace appliances and install energy-saving items such as solar water heaters, air conditioners, solar screens and window film, evaporative coolers and high-efficiency pool pumps.

“People take the most advantage of air conditioners and pool pumps,” he said.

To apply for a rebate, residents must submit an application within 60 days of installation. They are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, as there is limited money available, according to the city’s website.

Additionally, the city is replacing all of its transformers because they are outdated and inefficient.

“They have a lot of (electrical) losses,” said Acting Public Works Director Jim Keane.

Dwyer said the city is replacing all the pole transformers with more efficient ones that will create a more reliable 12kV unified system and allow more electricity to be transmitted.

“The current ones (transformers) are 4kV,” he said.

According to Dwyer, the transformers being replaced were manufactured between 1930 and 1970. The city plans to replace 100 per year, with all the new ones installed by July 2021. Additionally, the city’s energy consumption is expected to be less in 2022 than it was just before the recession.

Electric 2018-2022 IRP Draft for Public Review and Comment by Boulder City Review on Scribd

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
BC repaint: Countdown is on

It’s almost time to don that old pair of jeans, the ratty tennis shoes in the back of your closet and a shirt you’re not worried about ruining.

Management of veterans’ home sparks controversy

Documents provided to the Boulder City Review by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) appear to back up many of the accusations leveled at the Nevada Department of Veterans Services (NDVS) and leadership of the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home which is located in Boulder City by current and former employees over the past year. Many of the same issues were also noted by CMS surveyors in an inspection of the home that occurred in January.

Spending for proposed pool to be on Nov. ballot

During Tuesday’s Boulder City Council meeting, City Manager Taylour Tedder may have summed things up best.

Historic preservation event set for May

It’s a couple of months away, but scheduling for events tied to Historic Preservation Day — slated for May 11 —are pretty set and revolve around the theme of Trains, Planes and Automobiles.

Slow and steady

For Nevadans at the forefront of the West’s water crisis, snowpack in the Rocky Mountains that eventually trickles down to Lake Mead is always front of mind.

Hunt expected to draw hundreds

For the second year in a row, the city of Boulder City is sponsoring the annual Community Easter Egg Hunt with a little extra help from a friend – the Easter Bunny.

Longtime judge/justice of the peace to retire

If you get arrested in or around Boulder City and have to appear before a judge, that may mean — depending on the offense, the arresting agency and exactly where the arrest happened —that you are in front of the Boulder City municipal judge or the justice of the peace for the Boulder Township of Clark County.

And… We have a primary

It’s official. As of Tuesday evening, five people had filed paperwork to run for city council.

Wait. The museum has WHAT in it’s collection?

It was a presentation about the activities and impact of the Boulder City Museum with lots of info and plans and numbers. But most people who saw it will remember it most for the discussion of some of the museum’s more, hmmm, unusual items that are part of the collection.