On Call and Ready to Serve

ANYTIME THE FORECAST CALLS for severe winter weather here in Texas, the mad dash begins to buy essentials – milk, bread, bottled water, and toilet paper – in case we get “snowed in” for a few days.

But when you’re responsible for critical infrastructure, including 500,000-plus electric and gas meters, preparations, planning, and training happen year-round. We want our Members and Customers to know that they can count on CoServ to maintain safe, reliable, and affordable power.

Here are a few things we’ve done to prepare for winter this year:

• Year-round training for linemen and gas workers
• Winterizing our fleet
• Buying electricity on the market ahead of time to avoid sharp increases in real-time pricing
• Upgrading capacity on electric lines so we can reroute power and backfeed in case of an outage
• Adding smart grid upgrades and innovations that can more accurately detect outages to save time when dispatching crews
• Trimming trees and other vegetation near power lines ahead of time to minimize contact when snow and ice accumulates
• Increased storage capacity for gas, so that we can buy when it’s cheaper in the summer and store it to use in winter
• Upgraded 10 gas regulator stations throughout our service area to increase capacity and improve pressure stability during peak seasonal loads
• Added an additional gas metering point in a fast-growing area that significantly improves capacity and redundancy