Infrared camera finds hot power pole

Shane Pfenniger, the line crew foreman at Wahkiakum PUD, spent a few minutes with the board of commissioners at their meeting Tuesday morning to share a lucky find.

Using the infrared camera, purchased by the PUD in 2014, to investigate a pole that had been getting unusually warm, his crew found a hairline crack on a fuse holder.

“This would have been really hard to find,” Pfenniger said. “It was 7200 volts going down that pole. If one of the linemen or an apprentice would have climbed the pole, and maybe untied the neutral and put it in his lap, it could have been an electrical burn, pretty bad.

"Not only is this saving outages or stopping outages, this could have saved an injury to one of the guys.”

In other business, Commissioner Dennis Reid praised Auditor Erin Wilson for her hard work after learning that the Washington State Auditor’s office had given the Wahkiakum PUD a positive review.

General Manager Dave Tramblie said that the PUD would soon be purchasing 130 more LED lights to finish their conservation project, to replace lights around the county.

Tramblie had recently received a copy of an audit done for Mason 1 PUD regarding the Community Solar program. He said he believed that Wahkiakum PUD would find themselves in a similar situation.

Community Solar allows individuals to buy shares in a solar project. They in turn would receive credit for the life of the project.

“It appears somewhat viable for us,” Tramblie said, “but it depends on how many customers sign up.”

Commissioners noted that there had been little feedback from customers about Community Solar, and Commissioner Gene Healy suggested using the PUD newsletter to get information out to customers to gauge whether there is any interest.

Tramblie shared that the PUD and the Town of Cathlamet would be meeting with the Department of Health about capacity issues at the Elochoman well site in the middle of January.

Wilson reported that the Residential Energy Assistance Program had provided $2,688 in assistance in 2015 and that there was currently $2,109 available.

Wilson has been learning about cybersecurity insurance along with other PUD auditors and shared her hopes that the PUD would get a quote in the next few months.

“Especially for a small entity like us,” Wilson said, “I think it’s good coverage for us to have.”

With the new year in mind, commissioners considered their representative positions for several district organizations and decided to continue on as they had been. They then reorganized the board for 2015. Bob Jungers will return as Chair, Reid will be Vice President and Healy will be the Secretary.