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Utility continues to work to always keep the lights on.


Byline: TEAM SPRINGFIELD Springfield.

1 City (1990 pop. 105,227), state capital and seat of Sangamon co., central Ill., on the Sangamon River; settled 1818, inc. as a city 1840.
 By Bob Linahan For The Register-Guard

Electricity is one of those everyday conveniences most people take for granted. When you flip the switch, the lights come on. Simple as that.

Or maybe not. The federal government recently approved 83 standards for electrical utilities intended to increase the reliability of the nation's electrical grid. This legislation changed electrical transmission standards for the power industry from a voluntary system to one that is mandatory. The intent is to avoid major blackouts like the ones experienced a few years ago by California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W).  residents, and later by those living in the Northeast.

Because Springfield Utility Board understands the importance of providing consistent, reliable power, the utility was one of the first consumer-owned utilities in the Northwest For names and places containing the slightly longer word 'northwestern' (or variants), see .

Northwest or north west is the ordinal direction halfway between north and west on a compass. It is the opposite of southeast.
 to register with the Western Electricity Coordinating Council The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC)  (the entity that enforces compliance of reliability standards in the western United States Noun 1. western United States - the region of the United States lying to the west of the Mississippi River
West

Santa Fe Trail - a trail that extends from Missouri to New Mexico; an important route for settlers moving west in the 19th century
).

The utility also continues to be dedicated to improving and updating its electrical system with cost-effective cost-effective,
n the minimal expenditure of dollars, time, and other elements necessary to achieve the health care result deemed necessary and appropriate.
 technology that will ensure a steady flow of power to its customers at the least possible cost.

In fact, SUB's electrical reliability rating has always been outstanding, with a 2006 rating of 99.992 percent (a reliability rating of 100 percent means there were no customer outages during the year).

One reason behind this excellent rating is the built-in built-in - (Or "primitive") A built-in function or operator is one provided by the lowest level of a language implementation. This usually means it is not possible (or efficient) to express it in the language itself.  redundancy designed into SUB's electrical system. If one part of the electrical system goes down, SUB can often transfer load somewhere else, reducing the length of time customers are without power. This allows SUB to transfer power away from downed grids much faster and more efficiently than would otherwise be the case.

And improvements to this already well-functioning system continue.

In fact, earlier this year SUB completed the construction of its Olympic O·lym·pic  
adj.
Of or relating to the Olympic Games.


Olympic
Adjective

of the Olympic Games

Adj. 1. Olympic - of or relating to the Olympic Games; "Olympic winners"
2.
 Substation and added transmission lines to the system - both of which provide added redundancy, capacity and reliability.

For SUB, the ultimate goal is to operate a `closed-loop' transmission system by the end of 2009.

This kind of system will interconnect (1) To attach one device to another.

(2) A physical port (plug, socket) or wireless port (transmitter, receiver) used to attach one device to another.
 SUB's substations with transmission lines, which will allow SUB to shift large and small loads around with greater flexibility and ease.

That means when the power goes off - and it will thanks to Mother Nature and other forces beyond the utility's control - SUB will be well positioned to transfer loads even faster, allowing us to restore power to customers quicker and more efficiently.

Making sure our customers can rely on the service we provide is something SUB does not take lightly. The utility prides itself on offering extremely reliable electric service to our customers, and will continue to take the necessary steps to improve the reliability and redundancy of our electrical system so we can meet customer needs as they continue to evolve.

Bob Linahan is the general manager of the Springfield Utility Board.
COPYRIGHT 2007 The Register Guard
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:Columns
Publication:The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Article Type:Column
Date:Jun 28, 2007
Words:467
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