Monroe Roark
Gulfport officials received an update recently on a plan to move a considerable amount of existing utility infrastructure underground.
Duke Energy representatives reviewed planned grid improvements at the Gulfport City Council’s May 17 regular meeting. Not all residents in the city will be affected, but those identified as outage-prone get top priority. Relocating utilities underground makes them more resistant to storm-related outages, as well as cyber attacks, officials told Council.
Studying eight feeder lines from the 51st Street substation, which serves most of Gulfport and a portion of St. Petersburg, officials have identified where they think the work needs to be done. With the evaluation phase of the project complete, the utility is now in the process of obtaining easements in the affected areas.
These easements are in front of homes, unlike most of the current infrastructure that is in the back of the lots. Maintenance will be easier and less intrusive in front, officials said, whereas many current locations have vegetation that hinders repair work and at times workers have to knock on a homeowner’s door in the middle of the night to get access to the property.
Once Duke Energy can access the easements, the process includes plan review, marking each site, relocation of the lines, and restoration of the site. Running lines from the right-of-way to the meter will not require Duke Energy to trench any yards, according to utility rep Libby Hoctor.
“We take pride in leaving the community the way we found it,” she told the council.
Occasionally the relocation work will require a resident’s meter, which is attached to the house, to be moved as well. Duke Energy will pay up to $1,500 for that relocation, and Hoctor said she has never heard of a homeowner having to subsidize that cost during her time working with projects like this.
Affected residents received a postcard about this last fall and later received follow-up correspondence about specific plans for their individual properties. Each postcard contained a QR code directing residents to a website with regular updates. Duke Energy will do a survey after the work is completed.
The power company has already started some overhead improvements in Gulfport. Hoctor said she didn’t expect the underground work to begin until August; the work should take about four months.
Customers will have no out-of-pocket costs stemming from this project, and Duke Energy rep Theresa Crane said Duke Energy will not seek any sort of rate adjustment for several years.
