Jun. 28--The idea of buying one's own power plant arose in the late 1990s, when open-market electric rates fluctuated wildly, particularly in California.
Page Electric wanted to guarantee low-cost power for peaking periods, because its contract with the Rocky Mountain Generation Cooperative was expiring in December 2002.
Page City Council authorized a $5 million cash prepayment three years ago for Nebo in 2002. Page Electric has been buying peaking power through its alliance with UAMPS for much of its 19-year history, but the independent audit would suggest the 48-member UAMPS is a better buyer of power than producer of it.
Page Electric General Manager Bryan Hill said Page may have been the first to question Nebo because of its proximity to Navajo Generating Station and Glen Canyon Dam. Hill joined Page Electric in September 2003 from the dam, where he was the lead electrical engineer.
"Keep in mind that Page in general is a little more sophisticated than the rest of them because we're an energy town," he said. "We have people on our board that work at Salt River Project and the dam. If there's ever a little town that understands the electric utility business, it's Page."
Page Electric still has about $7 million in reserve funds, a large drop from the eight-figure reserves before the utility was called on to get the city council through financial crises and buy six portable generators for $4 million in June 2001.
The utility has never used the generators, but almost did Friday afternoon, when wildfires cut off power supply for Page and a series of other communities in northern Arizona and southern Utah. Power was out for a couple hours, reportedly because of smoke from fires near Cave Creek that worked its way through line insulation.
Power was restored when Page Electric obtained a feed at Glen Canyon Dam from the Western Area Power Administration in Colorado. Saturday morning's outage lasted only about 10 minutes, and Sunday evening the power went out for less than a minute.
Hill advised residents Monday to rely on surge protectors until the threat has passed, noting, "We're still at risk."
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