Oncor updating electrical equipment in Argyle

Thursday afternoon, town representatives met with Aaron Patterson of Oncor to discuss electric services in Argyle. Mayor Pro Tem Cynthia Hermann, Councilmember Bryan Livingston, and Interim Town Administrator Erika McComis attended the meeting on behalf of the town.
 
Patterson shared details of Oncor’s current electrical infrastructure project within Argyle, which has previously resulted in power outages. According to Patterson, Oncor is replacing conductors between Argyle and Corinth and installing new open-wye autotransformers. The company estimates that this work will be completed by the end of June.
 
Based on an Oncor study showing population growth in Argyle, the company determined that larger-gauge conductors and updated equipment were necessary to keep up with demand. The improvements also address existing outage problems that required immediate attention.
 
Patterson acknowledged that many of Argyle's outages in 2020 have been caused by execution problems related to work on this project. He added, however, that the fragility of the current system also caused some outages - a major reason for the project. To address outage concerns, Oncor will more closely supervise the crews working on this project going forward.
 
Additional work is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020 to install reclosers and regulators, further improving resilience and power quality.
 
Mayor Pro Tem Hermann and Councilmember Livingston requested that Oncor make a presentation to citizens on the project at a future public hearing, possibly as early as July 20.
 
According to Councilmember Livingston, "I am much more confident about the overall situation having received a serious and detailed briefing from Oncor." He said, "There is no guarantee that we will not see further outages while this work is ongoing. Once complete, however, we should have a power supply for the town that provides the capacity to keep up with our growth, improved resilience, and better power quality."