The Eagle River Light and Water department was notified by Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) the ten year agreement to provide back-up service to each others transformers will be terminated effective April 21, 2020 according to utility manager Mike Sanborn in a report to the Eagle River city council this week (Jan.15).
“This was for our main substation that provides power to the city,” Sanborn said. “We provided back- up service to each other in case of equipment failure and for routine maintenance and testing. WPS is going to install their own second transformer and will no longer need us.”
The city utility commission has approved installation of a second back-up transformer at a cost of $1,316,000 and is seeking information on obtaining financing.
The energy load of the new transformer will be 12 mega volt amps with the city presently using 8 so it should meet power needs for the next ten years.
