Employees of the TMU electric department are installing a new electric transformer at the north substation, just off Industrial Drive.
Utility Director Ron Urton told KTTN that electric power is being re-routed while the installation is underway. The existing transformer at the north substation is to refurbished and then reinstalled at the south substation.
The city has three electric transformers that were installed in the 1970s and are described by the utility director as having outlived their 25-year design life because of proper maintenance and not being loaded to maximum capacity.
Last October, the city council approved the purchase of a three-phase substation transformer from the Solomon Corporation of Kansas. The cost of the transformer and installation is $449,885 and is a budgeted item for TMU.
