Lamar Utilities Board meeting of June 9, 2026

At its June 9, 2026 meeting the Lamar Utilities Board approved purchase orders 2025-05186 through 2025-05411, which totaled $814,329.14.  Board approval was needed for $803,505.66 of this amount.  Estimated power purchase for May amounted to $562,956.66 and a purchase from High to Low Voltage, LLC for spare transformers amounted for $235,000 of this amount.  The Board voted to approve payment of bills totaling $67,277.86 as well.

Lisa Denman presented the December 2025 Financial Report, which included the balance sheet, income statement, year to date income and year to date monthly comparisons with 2024.  The balance sheet showed no significant changes.  Cash is up $255,502 from November while accounts receivable decreased by $175,493.  Total operating revenue for the month was $1,066,629 with operating costs of $927,473, resulting a gross operating income of $139,156.  When non-operating revenue and expenses are taken into consideration, there is a net income for the month of $126,676.  Year to date income statement shows that total operating revenues for the year were $15,465,955 with total operating costs of $12,274,758 resulting in gross operating income of $3,191,197.  When non-operating revenues and expenses are taken into consideration, there was a net income of $1,727,301 year to date.  Compared to 2024, revenues from retail sales were down approximately $99,575 or 1% comparing December 2025 to December 2024.  Overall operating expenses were also down approximately $1,184,687 or 9%, resulting in a net income of $1,727,301 for the year.

Superintendent Hourieh’s System Operating Report stated that an update on total sales of electricity for residential, commercial/industrial and irrigation loads through May 2026 are not available due to the Tyler system conversion.  The line crew installed two new residential services in town.  They replaced two 40-foot Class II wooden poles that failed testing on the west end 25kv circuit in Wiley and at Co. Road 8 and 196.  The crew has also been performing general line maintenance and tree trimming.  Linear Labs continues to monitor and collect data on the T-2 wind turbine.  The turbine is still operating at a reduced capacity of 400KW while investigating new pitch system fault events.

In an update on the power outage of May 26, in cooperation with Cross Canyon Engineering, the department was able to diagnose and troubleshoot the protection schemes of a 4-69 kv main breaker which experienced sporadic tripping operations that date.  The diagnoses and testing showed a failed 21x-67 directional overcurrent impedance relay.  They isolated the failed relay and were able to put the 69 kv breaker back into normal operation.  As a result, the department will be upgrading and replacing the failed relay with a new, modern microprocessor-based relay.

By: Barbara Crimond