A growing population and more industry coming to Cumberland County mean greater demand for water and electricity, a situation utility officials speak about with assurances they are planning for the future to ensure there are reliable and ample supplies.
They also acknowledge there is a price to pay in the form of rate increases for the needed investments in equipment and operations that would enable the utilities to continue providing those services in years to come.
Officials from Cumberland Plateau Water Authority and Volunteer Energy Cooperative spoke to Fairfield Glade residents July 7 on how their utilities are taking on today’s challenges and preparing for those that lie ahead.
“This is a defining moment for Cumberland County,” Jeff Dyer, general manager of Cumberland Plateau Water Authority, told an audience of 90 people at The Center.
“We’re out to solve some real challenges around water.”
Dyer said water utilities throughout the state, including those in Cumberland County, are trying to deal with aging infrastructure and their replacement costs, comply with more government regulations and provide enough water as populations grow and businesses move in.
All of that and other issues, he said, motivated three utilities in Cumberland County to work as “one group, one mind, one body, one team” through merging with the water authority.
He explained that the combined group will be able to share infrastructure costs, operate more efficiently, protect water resources for future generations and lessen the impact of customer rate increases.
“We’re specifically eliminating a lot of costs associated with running a utility.”
The Tennessee General Assembly authorized creation of the water authority in 2022 as a way for utilities to work collectively toward providing long-term water sustainability in Cumberland County and surrounding areas. Of Cumberland County’s six water utilities, the authority last year merged with Crab Orchard Utility District, which serves Crab Orchard and Fairfield Glade, and added South Cumberland and West Cumberland utilities this year.
Dyer said officials of those utilities concluded that “there is not a path on our own that we can survive the way that we can as a group together.”
Crossville residents in November will decide by referendum whether to allow the city to join the water authority. If the city is added, Dyer said, “we’ll have a strong utility, stronger than ever before.”
Regardless of that outcome, he said Crossville “is not the end-all be-all for regionalization,” adding that many surrounding counties have similar problems “that need future discussion” with the water authority.
In response to a question from the audience, Dyer said the utility is well positioned to handle water demands of growth in Fairfield Glade, including the 300-lot St. George Village development the community club’s declarant is planning.
Although the water authority has not increased rates since its creation, Dyer indicated that the Tennessee comptroller recommends annual increases of 1% to 2% to keep pace with costs.
VEC officials also addressed long-term viability of service and the equipment costs needed to provide it.
Dion Cooper, president and chief executive, said the utility will need to invest $295.5 million (in 2023 dollars) by the end of a 20-year improvement and construction plan. He said the plan, now in its third year, is necessary because many utility systems “are getting old, and they’ve been neglected for a period of time, and ours has, too.” But he added, “We’re changing that.”
He said the plan will mean rate increases, although he said he could not project what they would be over the period.
He said that before the plan began, VEC had not had a rate increase in 18 years, which is “not sustainable for any utility.”
The top priorities for VEC, he said, are to provide reliable and affordable service, “and so we do balance that.”
Cooper said the utility is trying to be “more proactive instead of reactive, not waiting for the power to go out – find the issues ahead of time.”
He gave as examples a drone program recently begun to enable more inspections, an electric fence installed around one substation to keep out animals, which can cause outages, and, at that same facility, green light lasers installed to scare away birds.
“We’re investing in technologies and ways to improve the reliability.”
Also speaking were water authority board of directors Chairman Greg Hanson and VEC board member Phil Smith, both of Fairfield Glade, and VEC’s Crossville Service Area Manager Kevin Hembree. Cumberland County Mayor Allen Foster moderated.
The full presentations are available for viewing in the member section of the community club’s website at fairfieldglade.com. Click on “Link All Videos.”