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Show Cedar City, Federation still looking at options By MICHELLE BATE Record Reporter CEDAR CITY - Electricity for Cedar City and the area and what should be done to provide it was the topic at a Tuesday evening meeting of the Southwest Utah Power Federation. Some of the options considered in the very emotional meeting were purchasing the present system for the City, adding on to the existing system, , or building a parallel system. Building a parallel system seemed to be the most unpopular at the meeting, partially, explained Rowley Smith of LEI consultants, because it would have to be built underground and that would ''triple costs for the City. Barbara Starr, Federation president, went on to explain to the group that this type of system may not be as durable in Cedar's situation. Another problem discussed was the determination of the costs of existing substations. These costs would be needed to estimate both the cost of building a new system and the cost of purchasing the present system. Currently such costs are not available. However, the Federation did unanimously pass a motion to have LEI look into the cost of determining such a price. The Federation also discussed various other power systems that may be of use in Cedar City's situation, including the use of hydro-power systems a and the pump-storage power. It was also explained how these various systems worked for the benefit for other cities. No one type of system for selected for Cedar during the meeting. According to Starr, negotiations between Utah Power & Light and the Federation are moving in a positive direction. She explained that having an arbitrator Ray Gee present at the meetings has made a significant difference. "Everyone is more cooperative," she said. She went on to point out that during negotiations, UP&L agreed that the Federation has an adequate inventory of the system, excepting the substations. They have also discussed a formula for a carrying charge or interest rate. According to Starr, the individual cities are going to have to work through the Utah Public Service Commission on settling such questions as who pays how much for old lines and what are the limited financing options. |
