Construction price quadruples for power down under

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

The required burial of a new transmission line through Fort Collins' open space will result in a slight elevation of wholesale electric rates.

The city council on Dec. 5 is expected to grant Platte River Power Authority permission to build a new power line through the Colina Mariposa Natural Area along South Shields Street, with the provision that PRPA bury the new line through the natural area.

"I think it will probably be an overwhelming vote for preserving quality of life," said councilman Ben Manvel. "That would be my choice for a few cents a month."

The city's mandate will effectively result in burying the entire 2.5-mile stretch of the line from Trilby Road to the Horseshoe substation in Loveland. The transmission line will be located between the railroad tracks and Shields, traversing Colina Mariposa as well as Larimer County's Longview Farm open space and three-quarters of a mile of private property.

"The city council was not real wild about providing a variance for the natural area easement policy," said Mike Dahl, the division director of power systems operation for PRPA.

He said burying the line will increase the cost more than four-fold from $600,000 to $2.5 million a mile, or almost $5 million more. Dahl said those costs will be passed on in the wholesale price of electricity provided to Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont and Estes Park, which own PRPA. He said each of the four cities would have to decide whether to absorb the cost or pass it on to customers.

Manvel said that added cost translates into an additional one-third of 1 percent increase in the cost of wholesale electricity, or 10 cents on $30. "That doesn't sound too onerous," he added.

The issue arose in September when the council in a split vote approved PRPA's plan to install the line on 80-foot-tall steel poles. But the council voted unanimously to postpone its decision after neighbors and other opponents turned out on final reading in October to protest violation of their view and the open space.

Beyond the cost, Manvel said, one downside of the council's change of heart was PRPA's withdrawing its offer of mitigation measures in consideration for approving the overhead transmission line. In exchange for the easement, Dahl said, the utility had offered to bury transmission lines along South College Avenue and Shields Street at a cost of $700,000.

Dahl said the new transmission lines are being built as part of PRPA's two-year effort to increase capacity and improve the reliability of electricity service on the west sides of Fort Collins and Loveland.