By: Lacey Gulbranson - General Manager/CEO Wheat Belt Public Power District
Ringing in a new year sparks a sense of renewed hope and optimism about the future. As the general manager of Wheat Belt Public Power District, for me, it’s a time to reflect on where we are and where we’re going. At the heart of this reflection, I think about ways we can better serve you, our customers.
Our team at Wheat Belt PPD is always looking ahead, exploring ways to innovate and utilize new technologies to improve our services. As our nation increasingly relies on electricity to power the economy, keeping the lights on has never been more important. We’re committed to delivering electricity safely, reliably, and efficiently.
So how are we working to ensure reliable and affordable power while adapting to a changing energy landscape and our community’s evolving needs?
One critical component of reliable power is the mix of energy resources used to generate the electricity that keeps the lights on across our service territory. You may not realize it, but Wheat Belt PPD doesn’t generate electricity. Instead, we purchase it from our energy provider, Tri-State Generation and Transmission and from there, we distribute it to homes and businesses throughout our communities. Our energy resource mix is made up of 45% coal, 34% renewable and 7% natural gas/oil and 14% contracts (generation purchased from various other third-party sources).
We’re increasingly using more electricity generated from renewable energy sources, but we still depend on a diverse energy mix to ensure reliable power that’s available to our members whenever they need it.
In addition to managing a reliable energy mix, Wheat Belt PPD is using technology to enhance our local grid, limit service disruptions and improve outage response times.
Advanced metering technology, also known as AMI, enables two-way communication between the district and consumer’s meter. In the event of a power outage, AMI helps pinpoint the exact location of the outage and can even analyze damaged or tampered meters. AMI helps Wheat Belt PPD save money with real-time data, and ultimately improves power reliability for our entire community.