Just West of Waconia on Hwy 5

952-442-5000

Sebenaler Chiropractic Center

Chaska  *  952-448-9908

CORNERSTONE Insurance Agency

David Barsness * 952-448-5028

8661 Deer Run Dr. * Victoria

952-443-2351

MACKENTHUN’S MEAT & DELI

St. Bonifacius  *  952-446-1234

Dine in Downtown Victoria * 952-443-2858

952-442-4411

“Trees Are Our Roots”

8099 Bavaria Rd * Victoria * 952-443-2990

Island View Dining

Waconia.  952-442-2956

Headlines

and bylines

Front Page

Feature Story

From the

Editor

Addie’s

Drawing

Letters

to the Editor

Victoria

Moments

Hook

Line & Sinker

Calendar

of Events

Click here to

Advertise

Email

the Gazette

Return to

Home Page

Order

paper Gazette

Notes and

Quotes

The Scoop

at City Hall

KEEPING LIGHTS ON IN VICTORIA

XCEL ENERGY AND MINNESOTA VALLEY ELECTRIC

         Representatives from Xcel Energy and Minnesota Valley Electric Company -- the two companies that supply electricity within the City of Victoria -- attended the April 11th Victoria City Council meeting at the invitation of Administrator Don Uram.  The invitation was in response to citizen complaints about power outages in Victoria.

         As resident Victoria Bont said, "We started this odyssey because of the outages we've had these past five years."

         "They are here to talk about their infrastructure improvements and their procedures during outages," said Mr. Uram. 

         Michelle Swanson, Community Relations Manager with Xcel, introduced Kim Marinac, Senior Distributions Engineer who has been with the company 22 years and focuses on reliability and maintenance.

         "Victoria is fed from the Eden Prairie substation and eight miles of overhead line," said Ms. Marinac.  "It has 34,500 volts until it's close to Victoria where it has 13,800 volts.  There are automated switches that have the brains to know where the fault is, so it would be a temporary outage rather than sustained.  That is a new technology that we've rolled out into the suburbs."

         "We do have a backup feed in Waconia," she said.  "Please don't assume your neighbors have called in when there's an outage.  We appreciate calls from residents.  It's important you call in so we can help identify the location of the issue.  We have somebody working 24  hours a day to respond to outages.  We usually know about a large scale outage, but it's vital we know about a neighborhood outage."

         Asked Councilmember Kim Roden, "What's your priority system for outages?"

         "If we can go into a large outage for hundreds of customers, we'll do that one before a small neighborhood outage," replied Ms. Marinac.

         "What is your process for peak outages?" asked Councilmember Roden.

         "We do start increasing our crew if we hear a storm is going to hit," said Ms. Marinac.  "We are doing a proactive job.  When it gets to our crews working 16-hour days, we put out a mutual aid call."

         "What are your internal standards for repair?" asked Councilmember Roden.

         "They vary so much," replied Ms. Marinac.  "It depends exactly what happened to the system."

         "What about redundancy?" asked Councilmember Roden.

         "We strive to have a backup for all the major feeds into a city," she replied.

         "How do you keep up with demand since Victoria is growing?" asked Councilmember Roden.

         "The majority of the area around Victoria is at a higher voltage," replied Ms. Marinac.  "Victoria was left as a pocket of 13,800 volts.  I review it every year or so.  We do have to make sure it's not being overloaded.  I plan on taking a look at that again."

         "What will be the process during Hwy 5 construction in 2012?" asked Councilmember Roden.

         "We haven't seen the final construction plans yet," stated Ms. Marinac.

         Added Councilmember Roden, "I hope you're using social networking as well as traditional means of communication."

         Ron Jabs, Community Relations and Support with MN Valley Electric, then came to the podium.  "I started out in engineering," he said.  "Minnesota Valley is very pleased to serve the area of Victoria.  We've made quite an investment here."

         "We keep tabs on your comprehensive plan," said Mr. Jabs.  "We try to balance what we see with potential needs.  There are so many different variables like the weather, lightning, rain, birds, animals, vandalism.  There are an immense amount of factors.  We always look for better technology.  We don't have smart switches yet.  Our first priority is safety.  Minnesota Valley takes pride that we have feeds from substation to substation to substation.  You have one right here, serving primary needs of your community."

         He said there are stations at Shady Oak Road, at the Chanhassen High School, and in Chaska.

         "We are working with Xcel," continued Mr. Jabs.  "We also have mutual aid with the 28 other cooperatives in the State of Minnesota.  As soon as the weather channel shows something moving in, we're on it.  Our active 24-hour number is 952-492-8255."

         "We are putting in smart meters," he said.  "We have live people to respond to your phone calls.  You can see on our website where the outages are located."

         "We track outages and the reasons for those outages," said Mr. Jabs.  "Everybody in the state had problems this past November.  Minnesota Valley is proud of our record.  We keep lights on a vast majority of the time."

        

Click here for more City Scoop.

Home Page

The Victoria

GAZETTE

May 2011