Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

City buys power at reduced rate

The board received a presentation about the Kimball Power Plant regarding ways to improve the system that runs hot water from the power plant to the electric shop, through the coils under the floor to heat the shop.

Keep Kimball Beautiful director Spud Rowley reported that the facility is preparing for single stream recycling.

Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN) has used the City of Kimball’s lines from the wind farm to transport electricity. Sandhills Energy purchased the local wind farm and are in the process of redoing things, prompting city engineers to submit a proposal of $220,500.00 a year for the wheeling rate.

City Administrator Dan Dean reported on the access amount of energy that was purchased. The City of Kimball buys hydropower energy from MEAN and Western Area Power Authority (WAPA). WAPA’s rates are significantly less, according to Dean, however when purchasing from them, supply is limited. Kimball was offered to secure an additional 20% of the city’s WAPA allocation for May and an additional 30% for the month of June. WAPA has a “drought charge” in affect when they anticipate dry years, in this case they didn’t have that, which means the City of Kimball was able to purchase more at a significantly lesser rate.