OMU is working to obtain a hazard mitigation grant from FEMA to upgrade electrical units in the Poet Streets to lower the area’s outages during storm-related events.
Director of Transmission & Distribution Austin McLimore said they decided to upgrade the Poet section, the neighborhood predominately between J.R. Miller Blvd. and Frederica St. and south of Tamarack Road, because they suffer the most outages in their service area.
The area has a lot of older systems that were installed in the 1950s, McLimore said. With the older system, 63% of outages in this area over the last few years have been attributed to weather events.
“Utility services states that most systems should have about two splices per mile; The average over there is 13.2 splices per mile. So, their conductors hit the ground quite often over there,” McLimore said.
He noted that there are currently 95,000 square feet of conductors they intend to replace as part of the project, which will help over 6,900 customers.
FEMA would be reimbursing OMU $500,000 for the project, which is currently earmarked. While the money is already reserved for OMU to receive, the utility corporation will have to undergo some processes to ensure they can get the funds for them.
GRADD Regional Resiliency Coordinator Colie Smith said that GRADD is applying for the grant and will take over two years to get the funding for the project.
“We’re looking at 12 to 18 months until we receive the award from FEMA, and then the project schedule for state contracting procurement will close out in about three to three months,” Smith said. “We’re looking at probably the end of 2026 for the project to be complete and closed out with everything ready to go.”
The grant is paid for from different sources, with 75% of the cost being produced at the federal level, 12% from the state, and 13% from OMU, which will predominately be general administrative costs like tree trimming and other needed grounds work.
The board approved GRADD to begin working on the grant application and retainment. The money is set aside for OMU to receive upon acceptance by FEMA, but the money is not adjustable for inflation.
