Utility Infrastructure
Nestegard Elected to ALLETE’s Board of Directors
Susan K. Nestegard, a member of the board of directors for Hormel Foods, has been elected to the ALLETE Inc. board of directors. Besides nine years of service on the Hormel Foods board, Nestegard most recently served as executive vice president and president of Global Healthcare, and chief technica..
Aclara And Suez Join Forces to Provide Smart Infrastructure Solutions to U.S. Cities
Aclara and SUEZ North America today announced an exclusive strategic partnership to deliver advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and smart infrastructure solutions (SIS) that will enable SUEZ to better serve municipalities across the United States. The Advanced Solutions division of SUEZ North Am..
FERC Approves Avista, Hydro One Merger
Hydro One Limited and Avista Corporation have received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the companies’ merger application filed on Sept. 14, 2017. “This marks another important milestone in bringing together Hydro One and Avista,” said Mayo Schmidt, President and CEO..
Utility: Weight of Fill Material Led to Gas Pipeline Fire
ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan utility says the weight of 21 feet of fill material was responsible for a November gas line rupture and massive fire in Oakland County’s Orion Township. Jackson-based Consumers Energy says Monday in a statement that the weight of the material “stressed the pi..
Dominion CEO: Without Deal, South Carolina Power Company Fails
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The top executive of a company looking to buy a troubled South Carolina utility says the state’s leaders can either accept the deal or watch SCANA Corp. fail. News outlets report Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell told the Public Service Commission on Thursday that the Virginia c..
Berkshire Hathaway Utility Unit Shuffles Top Executives
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway is shuffling the executives in charge of its utility unit after promoting Greg Abel to oversee all of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses. Abel’s promotion to vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway was announced Wednesday. Following that move, Berkshire promoted ..
Kentucky Water District Shuts off Service for Many
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky water district says it’s struggling to get water flowing to customers. A Martin County Water District Facebook post says storage tanks were drained because of several reasons, including high water usage. District office manager Joe Hammond tells The Lexington Heral..
More New York Utility Workers Sent to Help Restore Power in Puerto Rico
On Jan. 8, 2018, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the deployment of 46 National Grid workers to help restore power to Puerto Rico’s severely damaged power grid from Hurricane Maria in September. “New Yorkers help their neighbors in their time of need and I could not be prouder of the way thi..
Record Cold Results in Record Gas Use for New York Utility
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) — The record-cold temperatures late last week resulted in a New York state utility setting a record for natural gas use. Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. said customers in the eight eastern New York counties it serves used a record amount of natural gas last Friday. Then ..
Hawaii Water Service Files General Rate Case for Waikoloa Service Areas
Hawaii Water Service (Hawaii Water), a subsidiary of California Water Service Group has filed a General Rate Case with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (HPUC) seeking recovery of capital investments in its Waikoloa Village and Waikoloa Resort systems. If approved as filed, total annual revenue..
Louisiana Utility Regulators Looking for New Agency Chief
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s state utility regulatory agency is searching for a new top administrator. The Louisiana Public Service Commission is seeking candidates to be its next executive secretary, after Eve Kahao Gonzalez retired from the position, which oversees the day-to-day operation..
Missouri Senator Confirmed to State Utility Board
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri senators have confirmed appointments of two of their Republican colleagues to serve on tax and utility commissions. Both Silvey and Kraus resigned from the Senate to take the jobs. ..
Illinois Utility Expects Boil Order to Last Until Friday
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Illinois American Water says it expects a boil water order for the Metro-East area near St. Louis to be lifted Friday in the early afternoon. Illinois American issued the boil order Wednesday after water main breaks in the area, which includes Belleville, East St. Louis, Alo..
Agency to Monitor W.Va. Utility Tax Changes in New Law
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The Public Service Commission of West Virginia wants to know how privately owned utilities in the state will be impacted by the new federal tax law. In a release, the commission says it has directed all privately owned electric, gas, water, sewer and solid waste facilitie..
Cold Causing Pipes to Burst, Even at Water Company
ST. LOUIS (AP) — How hard is the bitter cold weather on water pipes? In suburban St. Louis, even the water company is dealing with a pipe burst. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that an Alton, Illinois, call center for American Water had to be evacuated Tuesday night after a pipe broke. Employee..
Dominion Energy to Acquire SCANA
Dominion Energy, Inc. and SCANA Corporation have reached an agreement to combine in a stock-for-stock merger, in which SCANA shareholders would receive 0.6690 shares of Dominion Energy common stock for each share of SCANA common stock. Including assumption of debt, the value of the transaction i..
GOP Senator Appointed to Missouri Utility Regulation Board
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Eric Greitens has appointed fellow Republican Sen. Ryan Silvey to the state’s utility regulation board. Greitens announced Silvey’s appointment to the Public Service Commission Tuesday, the day before the start of the 2018 legislative session. The commission regulat..
New Orleans Agency: Weather's Warmer, Stop Running the Water
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Stop running the water. That’s the message New Orleans officials are telling city residents, now that temperatures are above freezing. The New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board urged residents Wednesday to “immediately turn off their faucets to conserve water,” after many ha..
Illinois Utility Issues Water Boil Order
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Numerous water main breaks in the metro-east area near St. Louis has resulted in a boil order for most of St. Clair County and parts of Monroe County in Illinois. Illinois American Water on Wednesday issued the boil order for most of its metro-east service area, which includ..
Arizona Utility Sending Crews to Puerto Rico
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s largest electric utility is sending crews to help restore power to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Arizona Public Service Co. says 50 power line workers and support staff are heading to the U.S. territory in the Caribbean early this month. The company has already sent heavy ..
Con Edison of New York Names Cawley President
Con Edison Co. of New York, Inc., a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., has named Timothy P. Cawley president. Cawley replaces Craig Ivey, who retired after eight years as president of the company. “Tim is a proven leader in safety and reliability, with expertise in our operations and an unwav..
Unique Undergrounding Program Reduces Outages, Maximizes Response Time
In late August, Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston and other areas in Southeast Texas, leaving more than 750,000 customers without electric power. Immediately after Harvey, Hurricane Irma struck Florida, leaving much of the state and more than 6 million customers in the dark. Discussions about con..
PPL Corporation Makes Leadership Changes
PPL Corporation today announced it is promoting Assistant Treasurer Tadd J. Henninger to the position of vice president and treasurer effective Jan. 1, 2018. In addition, the company announced that current vice president-Investor Relations and treasurer, Joseph P. Bergstein, Jr., will become vi..
Aqua America Chief Environmental Officer Appointed to Pennsylvania Lead Task Force
Aqua America’s Chief Environmental Officer Chris Crockett has been appointed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Lead Task Force Advisory Committee, established by the Joint State Government Commission, the primary non-partisan research and policy development agency for Pennsylvania’s General Asse..
Pennsylvania American Water Acquires McKeesport Wastewater System
Pennsylvania American Water, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Water, has completed the acquisition of the wastewater system assets of the Municipal Authority of the City of McKeesport (MACM). The purchase price is approximately $159 million. The transaction marks the first acquisition complete..
New Jersey: Atlantic City Water Works Won’t be Sold
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey officials say Atlantic City’s water utility will not be privatized. Former U.S. Sen. Jeff Chiesa (Key-EH’-sah) said Wednesday the state will not seek to sell the utility. There had been speculation that the state, which had seized control of Atlantic City’s as..
Indiana Utility Commission Chairman to Retire in January
NDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The chairman of the Indiana commission that oversees utility companies is retiring after less than a year on the job. Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Monday that Jim Atterholt will retire on Jan. 12 as chairman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Holcomb had appointed Atte..
Portland Water Bureau Proposes Settlement with Ratepayers
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The city of Portland has reached a proposed $10 million settlement with water and sewer ratepayers who questioned spending ratepayer money on non-water-related programs. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that the Portland Water Bureau and an attorney for ratepayers on Friday an..
Aqua America CEO Named Chairman of the Board
Aqua America Inc. has elected President and CEO Christopher H. Franklin chairman of the board, effective Jan. 1, 2018. Franklin became CEO in July 2015 and has served on the board of directors since October 2015. He succeeds Nicholas DeBenedictis, former CEO, who will continue to serve on the board..
Regulators Approve Utility's Rate Increase to Recoup Infrastructure Costs
The Maine Water Company (Maine Water), a subsidiary of Connecticut Water Service, Inc. (Connecticut Water), today announced that the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) has approved a water rate increase for customers of Maine Water’s Biddeford and Saco Division, which serves 16,500 customers i..
- Trench collapse kills one construction worker in Houston, Texas
- Intrepid Fiber breaks ground on fiber optic network in Superior, Colo.
- Excavator collides with I-95 overpass in Henrico, Va., causing multi-vehicle crash
- Shrewsbury, Mass., expands sewer inspections and cleaning efforts
- Construction worker killed in trench collapse near Prosperity, S.C.
- Final construction phase kicks off for Indianapolis deep rock tunnel
- Texas contractor penalized by OSHA for repeated trench safety violations
- Trench collapse kills one construction worker in Houston, Texas
- WES tunnel boring machine retrieved from Oregon river after seven-month project
- Illinois overhauls Peoples Gas pipeline program, mandates focus on high-risk pipes