Greg Dierkers

Great River Energy

HQ City, PA

Overview:
Modernizing a substation and feeder circuit to support economic development in rural Pennsylvania

Who (just the name of the grantee(s):
New Enterprise Rural Electric Cooperative, which serves about 3,600 member-consumers in Bedford, Fulton and Huntingdon counties.

The Need:
A 60-year-old substation and feeder circuit becomes overloaded during cold weather, causing outages and degrading power quality. Residents, farms and businesses suffer, and the regional economy misses out on opportunities to attract companies that need reliable power.

Grant:
With BEL’s assistance, grantee was able to apply for a grant totaling $X from the Appalachian Regional Commission, a partnership of 13 states and the federal government innovating and investing for economic growth in Appalachia.

Impacts:

• Upgrading the substation and feeder circuit will reduce power outages, increase power capacity, and ensure reliable service for residents, farms, and businesses
• Local trucking, manufacturing, construction and truck repair firms expect to create seven new jobs and retain 34 jobs because of the project

New Enterprise REC

New Enterprise, PA

Overview: Modernizing a substation and feeder circuit to support economic development in rural Pennsylvania

Who: New Enterprise Rural Electric Cooperative, which serves about 3,600 member-consumers in Bedford, Fulton and Huntingdon counties.

The Need: A 60-year-old substation and feeder circuit becomes overloaded during extreme summer and winter weather events cold weather, causing outages and degrading power quality. Residents, farms and businesses suffer, and the regional economy misses out on opportunities to attract companies that need reliable power.

Action: With BEL’s assistance, New Enterprise Rural Electric Cooperative is pursuing funding opportunities from the Appalachian Regional Commission, a partnership of 13 states and the federal government innovating and investing for economic growth in Appalachia, and through the state of PA.

Impacts:

• Upgrading the substation and feeder circuit will reduce power outages, increase power capacity, and ensure reliable service for residents, farms, and businesses
• Local trucking, manufacturing, construction and truck repair firms expect to create seven new jobs and retain 34 jobs because of the project

Quote: “Electric infrastructure is the backbone of economic development in our local community. The investments we are working with BEL to secure will be an upgrade to our electric system that will have impact for decades.” -Mark Morrison, General Manager and CEO, New Enterprise REC.

Oneida-Madison REC

Bouckville, NY

The Need: OMEC’s distribution network has become increasingly vulnerable to storms, heavy snow, and high winds, which often cause prolonged outages. The co-op’s manual systems limit its ability to monitor grid conditions and respond quickly to restore power—challenges that will increase as its load continues to grow in the area, in part due to electrification.

The Who: Oneida-Madison Electric Cooperative has been providing reliable, affordable electricity to rural areas across Madison and Oneida counties since 1942. OMEC is a member-owned, non-profit organization whose goal is to benefit the area and the people for which we serve

Action: By implementing a modern Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, this small rural electric utility will detect faults more quickly, reduce outage durations and better manage load growth associated with electrification.

Impacts: A SCADA system will enable OMEC to detect and respond to faults more quickly and reduce the average outage duration significantly. The upgrade also positions the co-op to better manage energy use, align more effectively with its hydropower allocations, and increase power delivery capacity. Along with providing households with more reliable electricity this upgrade will improve conditions for economic development.

Quote: “Our regional efforts to enhance our electric distribution system resilience exemplifies the power of collaboration among rural cooperatives to address shared challenges,” said Brian Bell, CEO of Oneida-Madison Electric Cooperative. “Our members depend on reliable service, and this project will provide the tools and technologies necessary to enhance grid resilience, reduce outage durations, and support our local economy.”

Claverack REC

Wysox, PA

The Need: Approximately 1,450 families, businesses and first-responder agencies supplied with electricity by Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative's Steinbach substation suffer frequent and prolonged outages during storms. Outages have disrupted a regional 911 call center, forced businesses to close temporarily, disincentivized companies from moving to the region, and endangered vulnerable residents.

The Who: Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative, which serves about 19,000 member-consumers across eight counties in Northeast Pennsylvania.

Action: BEL is supporting various investments to upgrade the electric system across the eight-county cooperative, including:

• Integrated with a microgrid, the 2.5MW/10MWh battery electric storage system will provide more flexibility than traditional solutions such as undergrounding or adding fossil generators. It will reduce power supply-related outages by 44% and improve reliability on circuits that are typically disrupted during extreme weather.
• The installation of advanced satellite imagery and machine learning technology to provide comprehensive visibility of 2,800 miles of power lines. Additionally, over 50 smart grid devices will be implemented to increase control and visibility.

Impacts: The project will remedy the longstanding burden of unreliable service for local businesses, residents, and public service agencies and provide the basis for new business development.

Quote: “The hard work that BEL’s staff put into this application is how Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative was able to secure millions of dollars in funding for us,” said Nick Berger, Senior Director / VP of Engineering and Operations at Claverack REC.

Natchez Trace Electric Association

Houston, MS

The Need: Natchez Trace EPA faces multiple challenges, including frequent tornados, regular hazards from severe weather and flooding, often tied to systems moving inland from the Gulf Coast. Like many rural cooperatives, the cooperative operates in a financially challenging environment. Portions of Natchez EPA's electric grid are old and inadequate to meet the needs of businesses and the more than 3,200 residential member-consumers that depend on circuits prone to voltage drops and performance degradation, particularly during peak demand periods and extreme weather events.

Who: Natchez Trace Electric Power Association, which serves over 12,000 member-consumers in North Central Mississippi.

Action: BEL supports multiple infrastructure projects, including work to secure local and Federal funding for upgrades. By replacing transformers, upgrading substation feeders from 7.2 kV to 14.4 kV, and installing new reclosers, Natchez Trace EPA will meet the growing energy needs of grain bin operators and animal processing firms that provide support the region's economy. Residential member-consumers will benefit from enhanced reliability. The project will also mitigate cost drivers that could lead to rate increases.

Impact: Improving reliability though various projects will catalyze private investments, including local businesses investing in new grain bins, a new plasma cutter, and a dryer and loop system, and a new wooden crate manufacturing facility. Together, these investments represent roughly $2,560,000 in aggregated Leveraged Private Investment (LPI) across even local business partners who collectively anticipate creating 114 jobs as a direct result of project implementation

Quote: “We are appreciative of BEL’s detailed and focused efforts to help improve quality of life in our community though investment in our local electric infrastructure.” -Miller Dendy, CFO, Natchez Trace Electric Power Association.

Northwestern Rural Electric Cooperative

Cambridge Springs, PA

Who: Northwestern REC is a rural electric distribution cooperative in northwestern Pennsylvania. Northwestern REC is one of the 14 rural electric distribution cooperatives of the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association (PREA), and Allegheny Electric Cooperative (AEC). Energized on May 18, 1937, Northwestern REC serves 19,629 meters across seven counties in the tri-state area with most members residing in Crawford, Erie, Mercer, Venango, and Warren counties.

The Need: On distribution circuits serving more than 60 businesses and more than 1,000 households, power outages lasting from one-and-a-half hours to over 50 hours have occurred more than twice a year over the last five years. This causes hardships for residents and imposes financial burdens on businesses, including farms that rely on electricity to refrigerate milk and power grain bins and other essential equipment. Northwestern REC has routinely experienced transmission reliability challenges at two of its 17 substations. Currently, there is one radial transmission line that serves as the singular delivery point for both substations. Several challenges exist because of this current configuration.   As a result, there is no mechanism by which to backfeed these two substations from other power sources within its system. Consequently, Northwestern REC must rely entirely on its power provider to repair the provider’s own transmission lines and restore the power sent to the two substations. BEL supported the project’s efforts to secure funding for the upgrades.

Action: With a new transmission line and upgrades to its distribution infrastructure, this co-op will improve reliability and resilience in an area where member-consumers currently experience frequent and lengthy outages.

Impacts: The new transmission line and distribution system upgrades will dramatically improve electric power reliability for the member-consumers that now suffer unacceptably frequent and often lengthy outages. Businesses will experience fewer extra costs and delays due to outages.

Sullivan County Rural Electric Cooperative

Forksville, PA

Who: Sullivan County REC, which serves over 6,000 member-consumers in Pennsylvania’s Sullivan, Bradford, and Lycoming counties.

The Need: Fifty-five years after it was built, Sullivan County REC’s Estella Substation has limited capacity to handle current or future energy demands, is unacceptably vulnerable to extreme weather and other stresses. As a result, member-consumers served by the substation experience an average of five three-hour outages every year.

Action: BEL helped Sullivan secure a major substation upgrade, which will help the rural electric co-op to significantly enhance the reliability of its electric service and achieve other key benefits.

Impact: With a combined program of weatherization, monitoring and control technologies, adaptive protection systems, undergrounding of conductors, and other measures, Somerset REC expects to enhance grid performance and resilience while readying the substation and associated infrastructure for future needs. Improved capacity will improve conditions for businesses that consider relocating or expanding in the region.

Quote: “Sullivan County REC appreciates BEL assistance with this grant process, which helped secure $3.3M in grid resiliency grants.”

United Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Dubois, PA

Who: United Electric Cooperative serves 19,108 customers across 7,000 square miles and 10 counties in Central Pennsylvania.

The Need: Repairing outages and performing maintenance on a feeder circuit serving 16% of United Electric Cooperative's members must now be done manually, often causing excessive delays, higher costs and risks to staff during severe weather. The co-op is also challenged to meet the power quality needs of large industrial employers.

Action: With BEL’s assistance, the co-op has applied for and won over $5M funding from the PA Department of Environmental Protection Energy Programs Office to upgrade their poor-performing feeder circuits with modern automated systems.

Impacts:

• By replacing existing reclosers and other equipment with SCADA-controllable devices, the project will enable improved back-feeding and synchronization among three substations that serve metal fabricators, wood products manufacturers and other industries.
• The affected businesses, employ several hundred people, will receive the reliable power they need to grow and compete globally.
• The cooperative will revitalize an outdated substation using state-of-the-art materials and equipment, replace/relocate power lines increasing efficiency and capacity, implement smart grid technology, and conduct extensive tree trimming in targeted areas.

Quote: "BEL has been so helpful with both of United’s recent grant efforts"- Lauren Gustafson, Chief Operative Office of United Electric Cooperative.

Borough of Grove City

Grove City, PA

The Need: With a poorly performing 4 kV circuit and overhead conductors running dangerously close to residents' homes, the electric infrastructure in Grove City's downtown area is unreliable and unsafe.

Who: Grove City Borough, which has a population of 7,715 and operates a municipal electric utility serving 2,992 meters, and American Municipal Power, the nonprofit wholesale power provider serving 130 members in nine states. This small town has designed an ambitious electric system upgrade to improve reliability and safety in its downtown.

Action: To support transition and growth, the Borough has worked with BEL to seek funding to modernize its 50+ year-old electric grid. Planned improvements include undergrounding powerlines in critical areas, replacing outdated transformers with dual-voltage units, and preparing to upgrade from a 4,000-volt to a 12,000-volt system. These investments will enhance safety and reliability while enabling new distributed energy resources to meet future demand.

Impact: By converting the 4 kV system to a 12 kV system and undergrounding electrical conductors, the project will improve reliability and safety in a downtown residential and business district that includes a senior living facility, a high school, and a college.

Borough Schuylkill Haven

Schuylkill Haven, PA

The Need: The Borough of Schuylkill Haven's electric infrastructure is missing real-time data and monitoring, where they can’t detect outages until they are reported. Manual meter reading is costly and sometimes hazardous. Energy loss from the current infrastructure exists that can’t be identified. While the borough crew is responsive, electric reliability falls solely on the response time of the crew. Not only does this impact the borough's businesses and residents but also limits its capacity to accommodate new employers, including a proposed data center with power needs beyond the borough's current capabilities.

Who: The Borough of Schuylkill Haven, whose electric department serves about 3,000 customers, and American Municipal Power, the nonprofit wholesale power provider serving 130 members in nine states. This small municipal utility seeks to obtain near real-time usage data for system management to enhance reliability and attract employers to its community with distribution system upgrades.

Action: To address these challenges, the Borough has worked with BEL to seek funding for its primary reconductoring project as well as installing automated metering infrastructure (AMI) integrated with SCADA at priority locations and strengthening weak points in its grid. The work includes the purchase of a specialized backyard machine that can maneuver through tight spaces to set poles. This equipment is essential for modernizing electric infrastructure and directly supports power upgrades at a local casket company, a key Borough employer. Strengthening the grid will improve safety, reliability, and efficiency, allowing industry and businesses to grow and create jobs.

Impacts: By completing these projects, Schuylkill Haven will be able to detect outages instantly and restore power quicker, improve reliability, and accommodate the power needs of prospective employers. Strengthening the grid will improve safety, often before customers call in resulting in reliability, and efficiency, allowing industry and businesses to grow and create jobs.

Delaware County Electric Cooperative

Delhi, NY

The Need: Outdated electric grid infrastructure and capacity constraints limit economic growth in Delaware County, while power outages cause delays and damage for a specialized manufacturer of hydrolyzed proteins.

Who: Delaware County Electric Cooperative, which serves more than 4,800 member-owners through 5,500 meters in four rural New York counties; the Appalachian Regional Commission, a partnership of 13 states and the federal government innovating and investing for economic growth in Appalachia; and FrieslandCampina Ingredients North America, a division of the global dairy products company FrieslandCampina.

Action: The rural New York electric cooperative aims to improve reliability and power quality for residents and businesses, including a major employer, by deploying monitoring and metering systems and the software required to develop a battery energy storage system (BESS) microgrid.

Impacts: The BESS microgrid—to be specified and funded separately after the technical evaluations and engineering in this project are complete—will improve reliability for more than 1,700 households and 25 businesses, including major employer FrieslandCampina. DCEC estimates that more than 200 jobs could be retained or created by this BESS microgrid project.

Quote: “We are excited to participate in multiple projects that BEL is assisting us with. The projects will not only improve the reliability of our grid but also generate economic opportunities for our region,” said John Gasstrom, CEO of DCEC. “By integrating cutting-edge technologies, we are confident this project will significantly boost resilience, decrease outages, and enhance the overall service for our members.”

Borough of Duncannon

Borough of Duncannon, PA

Who: The Borough of Duncannon is a rural municipality in Central Pennsylvania with approximately 1,900 residents.

The Need: Served by a single 8-mile feeder line and outdated distribution infrastructure, Duncannon residents and businesses are exposed to system-wide outages caused by a lack of redundancy.

Action: A Pennsylvania town of less than 2,000 residents aims to modernize its outdated electric distribution system by replacing an existing recloser, installing a new one, and adding a second power line connecting to its electricity supplier.

Impacts: In addition to adding a second power line for redundancy, the project will create a duplicate feed system model to reduce outage durations, support faster restoration, and better position Duncannon's electric grid to withstand extreme weather events. These upgrades will foster economic growth and development, improve residents' quality of life, and enable future integration of distributed energy resources.

Village of Georgetown

Georgetown, Ohio

Who: Nestled in the scenic hills of Brown County, Georgetown is a vibrant village with deep historical roots and a strong sense of community. Founded in 1819, Georgetown blends historic charm with modern hospitality. The village serves power to 4,200 residents and 360 businesses.

The Need: A small town in southern Ohio is poised for robust job growth, with a proposed industrial park, growing manufacturers, and a veterans' home seeking to expand—all of which depend on an upgrade to the village's strained electric infrastructure. The one-directional power supply for the Village of Georgetown renders the town's 4,200 residents and 360 businesses vulnerable to outages. Even maintenance such as replacing an end-of-life transformer requires shutting off power to the entire village.  Like much of Appalachian Ohio, Brown County has been deeply affected by the decline of coal-related industries, losing jobs, tax revenues, and economic stability. To rebuild its industrial base, the community must ensure modern, reliable, and affordable power infrastructure that can attract and sustain new business clusters.

Action: The Village of Georgetown is pursuing critical upgrades to its electric grid to support long-term industrial and commercial development. BEL is supporting Georgetown in securing funding to establish system redundancy by creating tie lines between substations, reconductoring lines to expand power capacity, and constructing a new feeder line within Georgetown’s service area. These improvements are essential to serving the county’s industrial park, an electronics manufacturer, healthcare and rehabilitation facilities, and other growing enterprises that require dependable power. Without redundancy, the entire village is vulnerable to extended outages whenever the primary transmission feeder or aging substation transformer requires maintenance—limiting economic growth opportunities.

Impact: The project will provide reliable power to an industrial park, a veteran's facility, an electronics manufacturer and other organizations whose expansion goals are now constrained by poor electric reliability. The project is projected to support the creation of 360+ new jobs, retention of 50+ existing jobs, and over $1.1 million in annual cost savings. By expanding regional power capacity and strengthening reliability, Georgetown will be positioned to attract private investment and foster industrial clusters critical to Brown County’s post-coal economy.

Otsego Electric Cooperative

Hartwick, NY

Who: Otsego Electric Cooperative has 4,975 member-consumers across four counties in New York’s central region.

The Need: With annual average snowfall of 83” in much of its territory, OEC’s electric infrastructure is at higher risk of weather-related outages than most electric utilities. A 2020 winter storm exposed critical vulnerabilities in the region’s energy infrastructure, which this project seeks to remedy.

Action: By adopting a SCADA system and automated metering infrastructure, OEC will more quickly restore power after outages, better manage peak loads, and enable more rapid integration of distributed energy resources.

Impacts: By implementing a SCADA system and installing automated meters at 4,350 of its member-consumers’ premises, OEC expects to accomplish a 20% improvement in system average duration index (SAIDI) and system average interruption frequency index (SAIFI) metrics and reduce SAIDI by 700 minutes annually. The upgrades will also support growth of EV charging and electrification of HVAC and cooking.

Quote: “At Otsego, we believe in forward-thinking solutions that safeguard our grid and enhance reliability for rural communities,” said Tim Johnson, CEO of Otsego Electric Cooperative. “This project represents a vital step toward building a resilient electric network that can withstand future challenges while supporting sustainable growth

REA Energy Cooperative

Indiana, PA

The Need: Due to aging equipment and the increasing frequency of severe weather events, power outages are increasing in REA Energy Cooperative's Southwestern Pennsylvania service territory.

Who: REA Energy Cooperative serves 24,561 metered accounts in seven counties.

Action: BEL is assisting REA in securing funding to strategically install 45 advanced reclosers on its worst-performing circuits to help identify and repair outages more quickly and reduce outage durations.

Impact: REA Energy Cooperative aims to reduce outage time by 20% for about 8,300 homes, businesses, government agencies, and employers with advanced monitoring and automation equipment. By improving power quality and reliability, the project will help enable local employers and work-from-home residents to operate more productively.

Somerset Rural Electric Cooperative

Somerset, PA

Who: Somerset REC, serves 13,899 member-consumers in four Pennsylvania counties and one Maryland county.

The Need: Existing infrastructure—including four of Somerset REC’s substations—serving one the most remote portions of the utility’s grid is outdated, subject to longer duration outages, and not sufficiently robust to utilize the entire capacity of the nearby Listonburg Solar plant.

Action: By upgrading technology at four substations and installing new controls and reclosers, this co-op will improve reliability and restore outages more rapidly for 2,100 member-consumers in one of its most remote service areas and take greater advantage of solar generation.

Impacts: Somerset REC engineers have developed a three-part plan to simultaneously improve reliability for the 2,100 members in one of its most remote service areas and eliminate the bottleneck—an undersized transformer—that constrains the utility’s ability to utilize solar-generated power from the Listonburg Solar plant.

Quote: “The work that BEL was able to provide to assist with this grant process was very helpful, and Somerset REC appreciates the support,” said Rus Ogburn, General Manager at Somerset REC in Pennsylvania, where BEL helped secure $1.5M.

City of West Point

West Point, MS

Modernizing Grid Operations to Strengthen Reliability and Support Economic Growth in Clay County, MS

Overview: The West Point City Water & Light Department aims to modernize its electric grid to reduce the frequency and duration of power outages and build resilience to Mississippi’s increasingly intense storms.

Who: City-owned West Point Water & Light serves nearly 3,900 customers in Clay County, MS.

The Need: Increasingly, thunderstorms, tornadoes, ice storms, and other severe weather events disrupt electric service for West Point’s residents — more than 20% of whom are low-income. Improved reliable power delivery is thus critical for residents, local employers, schools, medical facilities, and emergency services as these outages affect both public safety and economic activity.

Action: By deploying Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), an Outage Management System (OMS) and critical hardware upgrades, West Point will be able to detect and isolate outages, restoring service in less time. The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) is supporting the utility alongside the local development district to secure needed investment for the system upgrades.

Impacts: Collectively, the SCADA, OMS and hardware upgrades will enable West Point to reduce outage duration and frequency by up to 75%. This will benefit all customers — including Ellis Steel, a major local employer — and help position West Point for future economic growth.

Tullahoma Utilities Authority

Tullahoma, TN

Overview: By installing regulator banks at three substations serving all 12 of its distribution circuits, Tullahoma Utilities Authority (TUA) will ameliorate the growing problem of voltage drops and brownouts that often occur during hot, humid days.

Who: Tullahoma Utilities Authority (TUA) provides water, wastewater, internet and electricity service to users in the town of Tullahoma, TN. It serves approximately 12,200 electric meters.

The Need: A significant percentage of TUA customers currently experience voltage drops and brownouts during hot days, which can damage appliances, disrupt households, schools, and businesses, and compromise grid infrastructure. In August 2025, TUA reported that voltage dropped close to or beyond the 5% operational threshold for more than half of its metered customers. The capacitor banks TUA relies on for voltage control are increasingly insufficient due to increased demand for power, and they are inadequate during storm restoration and planned maintenance.  

Action: TUA will install regulator banks at three primary substations serving all 12 distribution circuits, integrating the new equipment with its Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. BEL has helped TUA craft a funding proposal for the upgrade to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Impacts: The upgrade will enable real-time monitoring and remote control of TUA’s grid, provide systemwide voltage support, allow for real-time adjustments, improve power quality, and enhance reliability and redundancy.

The resulting improvements in power quality and reliability will be especially important for fire and police facilities, schools, and residents who rely on medical devices and cooling during extreme heat events.

Rockwood Electric Utility

Rockwood, TN

Modernizing this small town’s electric grid will reduce outages and improve conditions for economic growth. 

Overview: By modernizing its aging grid, Rockwood Electric Utility (REU) will improve power quality and reliability, supporting residents, critical services and future economic growth in Roane County, Tennessee. 

Who: REU is a municipal electric utility serving over 15,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the cities of Rockwood and Kingston and portions of Roane, Morgan, and Cumberland counties in Tennessee.

The Need: Due to aging infrastructure, frequent storms also trigger feeder outages, while limited distribution capacity constrains new commercial development and negatively impacts schools and first responders.

Action: REU will install modern sectionalizing devices to isolate faults more quickly. The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) is supporting the utility by helping secure funding through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to make the grid modernization efforts possible.

Impacts: These upgrades are expected to improve outage frequency and duration by at least 25%, improve voltage stability, and enhance service reliability for vulnerable residents, schools, and emergency facilities. By improving power quality, the project will also create better conditions for economic growth and community investment.

Newport Utilities

Newport, TN

Overview: By installing a 69 kV/13 kV transformer at its primary substation and building a new feeder circuit, this rural municipal utility will reduce the overly frequent and long-duration outages now suffered by many of its customers and meet growing load demand.

Who: Newport Utilities is a municipal utility providing electricity, water, wastewater, and broadband services to more than 36,000 residents, businesses, schools and other customers in Cocke, Sevier, and Jefferson counties, Tennessee.

The Need: Increasing electric loads and system vulnerabilities—such as single radial feeds and aging substations—have led to extended outages for NU’s customers, including an average of 7.7 hours without power per customer in 2023. These disruptions disproportionately affect low-income households and small businesses. The lack of electric grid reliability also has negative impacts on Newport’s manufacturing and tourism sectors, potentially disincentivizing investors from financing new industrial and commercial developments.

Action: To address its reliability challenges and improve its capacity to meet growing demand, NU has developed a project to add a 69kV/13kV transformer at its primary substation and construct a new feeder circuit. BEL supported their effort to seek funding for the project from the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC).

Impacts: The upgrades are expected to reduce outage durations by 30% to 50% and decrease outage frequency by 15% by eliminating single points of failure and enabling faster service restoration during outages. They will expand capacity, provide redundancy, and allow more efficient load distribution, thereby improving reliability and reducing risks of widespread outages.

Critical facilities such as hospitals, water treatment plants, and emergency response centers will be protected during severe conditions. The improvements will enhance electric reliability for Newport’s manufacturing and tourism sector employers, positioning the town for new industrial and commercial investment.

Lawrenceburg Utility System

Lawrenceburg, TN

Overview: By replacing a decades-old substation, transformers, conductors, and other gear, this rural utility will double the voltage of a feeder circuit to reduce line losses, avoid prolonged and potentially catastrophic outages, and reduce O&M costs.

Who: Lawrenceburg Utility Services (LUS) is the municipal utility that provides gas, water, wastewater, and electricity in Lawrence County, TN, serving 23,338 electric meters.

The Need: Due to financial obstacles, a 1990s-era upgrade of distribution capacity from 7.2 kV to 14.4 kV on an LUS feeder was only partially implemented, with step-down substations deployed to keep segments of the grid operating at 7.2 kV. Thirty years later, this legacy prevents the utility from reaping the benefits of reduced line losses associated with higher voltages. Additionally, aging hardware such as a nearly 50-year-old substation transformer, brittle copper conductors and old insulators need to be replaced to reduce ongoing and costly repairs.

Action: By replacing a decades-old substation, transformers, conductors, and other gear, this rural utility will double the voltage of a feeder circuit to reduce line losses, avoid prolonged and potentially catastrophic outages, and reduce O&M costs.

Impacts: If funded, LUS will retire its Gibbs step-down substation and upgrade or replace transformers, lines, poles, framing assemblies and other equipment to facilitate the transition of the entire circuit to 14.4 kV voltage.

The project will significantly reduce the risks of costly, long-lasting outages. Increasing voltage will lower energy costs by reducing line losses. Higher voltage will also lessen the need for trouble calls—which cost LUS between $1,089 and $1,333—resulting from customers experiencing blinks, fluctuations and other consequences of low voltage.

Water Valley

Water Valley, MS

Who:  City of Water Valley, serving 2,100 meters in Yalobusha County. 

The Need: Water Valley’s business district has experienced strong growth in the creative and food economy over the past 15 years, with more than 200 employees now working on the west side of the city. This sector, however, faces severe risk from frequent closures caused by the aging substation. In 2025 alone, half a dozen daytime blackouts forced restaurants, shops, the bank, the pharmacy, and other businesses to close without notice. These outages disrupted customer activity, left visitors frustrated, and threatened the survival of entrepreneurial businesses that operate on narrow margins. The city’s only substation contains outdated equipment and lacks fault isolation, leaving all homes, businesses, schools, and healthcare facilities at risk of prolonged outages. These vulnerabilities threaten community safety and economic stability, particularly during severe weather events. Rebuilding the substation is critical to ensuring reliability and enabling growth. 

Action:  Water Valley is pursuing funding opportunities for reconstructing a 70-year-old substation to eliminate a single point of failure and ensure reliable power for Water Valley, Mississippi.  

Impacts:   By modernizing the equipment in the substation, the project safeguards this vital growth sector and preserves the city’s ability to attract and retain new entrepreneurs. The project: 

• Replaces obsolete infrastructure with modern 15 kV equipment reducing outage duration by up to 87%  

• Protects critical facilities including Yalobusha General Hospital and Water Valley schools 

• Supports 200+ jobs at risk due to unreliable power 

Erwin Utilities

Erwin, TN

Overview: When Hurricane Helene slammed into this Eastern Tennessee town, it left destruction in its wake and highlighted the vital need for electric grid upgrades.

Who: Erwin Utilities Authority provides electricity, water, wastewater and fiber internet services to the town’s 6,000 residents, with electricity service for more than 9,000 customers.

The Need: Erwin’s electric utility infrastructure was already in need of essential upgrades when Hurricane Helene hit at the end of September 2024, demolishing bridges and rail lines and causing other harm from which Erwin was still recovering more than a year later. Facing a growing risk of extreme weather, town leaders are seeking to reinforce their electric grid to withstand future storms and ensure that energy continues to flow for vulnerable residents, as well as for medical and emergency services.

Action: Erwin Utilities staff have prioritized a set of upgrades at a key substation and at the grid’s 69 kV backbone. Substation upgrades include replacing outdated single-phase transformers with a new three-phase transformer and load tap changer; expanding the control house to improve capacity and accommodate modern protection and control equipment; and replacing old insulators and switches. Erwin Utilities will also upgrade the bus at the backbone of its 69 kV network, which serves all customers. BEL leveraged its expertise in state and federal grantwriting to help Erwin Utilities craft a funding proposal for the upgrade project to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Impacts: The upgrades will provide system-wide voltage support, allow real-time adjustments, improve power quality, enhance reliability, and improve the utility’s capacity to respond to extreme weather events.

Madison Electric

Madison, ME

Write-up Coming Soon.

City of Wilson

Wilson, NC

Hardening the Distribution Grid in a North Carolina Community Increasingly Vulnerable to Outages from Severe Weather

Overview: By replacing or reinforcing 3,001 utility poles, Wilson Energy will reduce outages caused by severe weather.

Who: Wilson Energy serves over 36,000 customers across a 329-square-mile area in Wilson County, NC.

The Need: With a significant amount of utility poles more than 50 years old, Wilson Energy’s grid is increasingly vulnerable to high winds and storms. In 2022, a storm knocked down 19 poles, leaving more than 14,000 residents without power for days. Wilson’s grid includes many poles of similar vintage, putting its entire system at risk of large-scale outages.

Action: Wilson Energy will replace 3,001 poles and install guy wires to improve stability and reduce pole loading. These upgrades will not only fortify the electric grid but also protect the fiber-optic high-speed internet service that shares the same infrastructure. The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) helped secure funding for this effort.

Impacts: The project will improve reliability to Wilson by an estimated 25%, cutting outage time by 86 minutes per year — these improvements will especially benefit the most impacted customers and community facilities, including schools and Wilson Medical Center. Wilson Energy estimates the upgrades will help retain 20 jobs, reduce repair costs, and strengthen electric reliability during severe weather.

South Central Indiana REMC

Martinsville, IN

Undergrounding Power Lines to Improve Reliability and Community Resilience  

Overview: South Central Indiana REMC (SCI REMC) will underground critical distribution lines to reduce power outages and ensure reliable service in one of Indiana’s most heavily forested and storm-prone regions.

Who: SCI REMC is a rural electric cooperative serving 34,561 members in southern Indiana’s Brown, Morgan, Monroe, Owen, and Johnson counties.

The Need: In Brown County’s heavily wooded terrain, overhead power lines are vulnerable to vegetation strikes during high winds. Outages in this section of SCI REMC’s grid last 60% longer than rural utility average, with a System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) of about 990 minutes per year. These prolonged outages translate into hardships for households, schools, businesses, institutions, and service providers, and hamper economic growth.

Action: SCI REMC will convert 16 miles of overhead lines to underground systems and install automated monitoring and control devices to isolate faults and restore service remotely. The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) is supporting SCI REMC in securing investment to make these critical reliability improvements possible.

Impacts: The project will reduce outage duration by 12% (about 118 minutes per customer annually) and cut outage frequency by 8% on targeted feeders. By hardening Brown County’s most at-risk infrastructure, SCI REMC will enhance service for residents, businesses, and community institutions — strengthening public safety, supporting job creation, and improving long-term economic vitality. The project will also employ workers in underground construction, field operations, and engineering, thereby expanding training for workforce development opportunities.

Starkville Utilities

Starkville, MS

Overview: Modernizing infrastructure and technology to support population growth and economic development in Oktibbeha County.

The Need: Rapid population growth and aging infrastructure are straining Starkville’s grid, leading to frequent outages and service disruptions across the utility’s service territory in the Golden Triangle of Mississippi. Residential neighborhoods, university operations, and local businesses are frequently affected by outages, limiting economic potential and increasing operational challenges. Starkville needs modern communication updates to meet growing demand and protect the community.

Who: Starkville Electric Department serves over 14,000 customers in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, including residential, commercial, and institutional customers in and around the city of Starkville.

Impact: With BEL’s assistance, Starkville is pursuing funding opportunities from the Appalachian Regional Commission, a partnership of 13 states and the federal government innovating and investing in economic growth in Appalachia, and through the state of Mississippi's Grid Resilience Grant (40101(d)). By modernizing utility infrastructure in alignment with the adoption of a SCADA system, the project will improve service reliability for residential neighborhoods, the local university, and business. The project will reduce outage duration by 30% with economic benefits to ratepayers and reduced operational costs for the utility.

City of Niles

Niles, OH

Overview: New electric infrastructure will support manufacturing job growth in this rustbelt Ohio town

Who: The City of Niles, population 18,000+, has operated its electric distribution utility for more than 100 years.

The Need: A Niles-based aluminum extrusion manufacturer, BRT Extrusions, plans a major expansion. Yet, to realize the economic benefits this expansion will bring to the town, its outdated electric infrastructure must be upgraded significantly.

Action: With BEL’s assistance, Niles has developed a competitive proposal to the Appalachian Regional Commission to help fund the needed electrical infrastructure, which will include a new power line and two transformers of at least 1,500 kVa capacity.

Impacts:

• With the upgrade to electric infrastructure, BRT Extrusions will build two new press lines within the next two years, creating at least 30 new jobs and supporting the growth of revenues and jobs for BRT’s regional suppliers and contractors.

Steuben Rural Electric Cooperative

Bath & Cherry Creek, NY

Upgrading substations to unlock economic growth and improve reliability in coal-impacted Southern Tier communities

Overview: Steuben Rural Electric Cooperative (SREC) will modernize two aging substations to improve electric reliability, expand power delivery capacity, and support job creation in New York’s coal-impacted Southern Tier region.

Who: SREC serves 1,751 households and 43 businesses across communities in Steuben, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus counties in New York.

The Need: Due to their age and outdated equipment, two SREC substations cannot support modern load demands. These constraints cause frequent outages and limit opportunities for business expansion and investment in a region where coal-related job losses have contributed to poverty rates exceeding 17% in Cattaraugus County.

Action: SREC will replace both wood-framed substations with modern steel structures, three-phase transformers, and advanced control systems. Integration with the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system will enable real-time monitoring and remote fault isolation. The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) and the regional planning board are helping the utility secure funding for the project.

Impacts: By improving capacity and reliability, the project will leverage an estimated $30 million in private investment and create or retain dozens of jobs in agriculture, recreation and tourism, and other industries. Key beneficiaries include Nobles Farm, a regional agricultural innovator that has invested in a modern biodigester but still faces service limitations that restrict further growth. The upgrades will also reduce outage duration by an estimated 30 minutes per customer annually, while the advanced controls enable faster service restoration and reduce utility operating costs.

Village of Woodsfield

Woodsfield, OH

From Coal to Capacity: Strengthening Monroe County's Electric Future

Overview: By modernizing its outdated electric distribution infrastructure and upgrading the voltage from 2.4 kV to 7.2 kV, the Village of Woodsfield will provide more reliable service to all customers and facilitate job growth.

Who: Municipally owned Woodsfield Power & Light serves 1,754 customers in Monroe County, Ohio.

The Need: With inadequate voltage and key components installed more than 40 years ago, Woodsfield’s grid is unreliable and incapable of meeting the needs of modern businesses that could provide jobs and alleviate the high unemployment and population decline resulting from the 2022 closure of the nearby Century coal mine.

Action: The project will upgrade transformers, conductors, and other equipment and increase the distribution grid's voltage capacity from 2.4 kV to 7.2 kV. The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) is partnering with the local development district to secure funding for the project.

Impacts: The grid upgrades will improve power quality, reliability, and operational flexibility. These improvements will not only increase the quality of life in Woodsfield but also bolster economic development. By providing dependable service to Woodsfield’s industrial park, the project will make the community more attractive to manufacturing and technology employers, helping create jobs and strengthen the local economy.

Stowe Electric Department

Stowe, VT

Overview: With support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program, Stowe Electric Department will enhance system reliability and reduce energy costs through targeted feeder upgrades and enable new local renewable generation.

Who: Stowe Electric Department, a municipally owned utility, provides electricity to 4,600 residential and commercial customers across rural Lamoille County, Vermont.

The Need: Rural Vermont communities face high energy costs, limited grid redundancy, and frequent weather-related outages. Many households in Stowe’s service area are low-income and located in increasingly flood-prone remote areas where service restoration can take time. As demand grows with electrification of heating and transportation, the utility must modernize its distribution system to maintain reliable service and meet Vermont’s Renewable Energy Standard.

Action: Stowe developed the PACE project to support a variety of feeder reliability improvements, including adding redundant circuits serving rural communities, undergrounding medium voltage transmission lines, and automating switches to isolate faults and restore power more quickly. These upgrades will improve reliability for critical facilities such as Stowe High School, an emergency shelter, strengthen grid resilience for 115 rural households, and benefit the workforce in Lamoille County. BEL has helped Stowe and other municipal utilities and cooperatives navigate the USDA PACE program.

Impacts: The project will significantly reduce outage frequency and duration while facilitating cost-saving benefits of locally generated renewable energy, including micro-scale hydro. By modernizing its infrastructure and hardening at-risk feeders, Stowe Electric is building a more reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric grid for Vermont.

Yazoo City

Yazoo, MS

Rebuilding and upgrading a substation to end chronic blackouts 

Overview: By rebuilding and upgrading an aging substation, the Public Service Commission of Yazoo City (PSCYC) will eliminate a significant point of failure, increase system capacity, and provide more reliable power to an underserved Mississippi Delta community.

Who: PSCYC provides service to 11,000 residents, businesses, farms, healthcare facilities, schools and other consumers in Yazoo City and Yazoo County, MS.

The Need: Powered by a single transmission line and hampered by decades-old switchgear, Yazoo City endures prolonged power outages on a seemingly weekly basis. These outages – which are sometimes multi-day – disrupt residential, commercial, and institutional customers. Peak demand often exceeds system capacity, limiting economic development and business growth in the downtown area.

Action: PSCYC will rebuild the North Yazoo Substation with a modern 33.6 MVA transformer, advanced protective relays, and digital controls to peak load demand and enable future business growth. The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) is assisting PSCYC in securing investment from the state of Mississippi to support implementation of the project.

Impacts: The upgrades adopted from the project are expected to reduce outages by 200 minutes per customer per year — an approximate 60% improvement in reliability. Faster restoration times will likewise further protect vulnerable residents, benefit healthcare facilities and schools, and support growth by ensuring local businesses have access to stable power.

Quote: “These upgrades are key to addressing aging infrastructure and improving reliability and positioning ourselves for future growth.  As a small team with limited resources addressing these needs has been challenging. Support from the BEL has made this possible."

Kosciusko Water and Light

Kosciusko, MS

Overview: Upgrading feeder circuits and integrating smart fault isolation to improve reliability and support economic development in Kosciusko, Mississippi.

Who: Kosciusko Water & Light (KWL) is a municipally owned utility serving approximately 3,120 customers in the city of Kosciusko, located in Attala County in central Mississippi. It provides electric and water services to residential homes, small businesses, and public facilities.

The Need: Three overloaded 13.8 kV feeder circuits, two of which share a single pole line, create a critical vulnerability. The limitation means that severe weather and equipment failures frequently disrupt service to homes, schools, and businesses. The community depends on reliable electricity for industrial, educational, and residential operations, and outages from storms and vegetation pose safety risks.

Impacts: With BEL’s assistance, Kosciusko is pursuing funding through the Mississippi Grid Resilience Program under Section 40101(d). By adding a new 13.8 kV feeder circuit tied to the existing feeders, KWL will be able to conduct routine maintenance without service interruptions and respond more effectively to unplanned outages. The utility will include reclosers to reduce the number of customers affected by any single fault and shorten outage durations by minimizing the miles of line impacted by grid disruptions. The project will reduce the frequency and duration of outages by 25%, benefiting businesses and critical facilities. It is also expected to help create or retain at least 20 jobs and bolster workforce development opportunities.

Clarksdale Public Utilities

Clarksdale, MS

Overview: Upgrading substation and feeder infrastructure to reduce outages and support industrial growth in the Mississippi Delta.

The Need: Aging substation equipment and radial feeders in Clarksdale have increasingly impacted the Mississippi Delta city – often called the “birthplace of the blues” – leaving residents vulnerable to multi-hour outages from storms and equipment failures. Prolonged outages disrupt residential life, critical facilities, and local industry, limiting economic opportunities in the region. Modernization is necessary to support industrial expansion and ensure reliability.

Who: Clarksdale Public Utilities serves about 6,800 customers within the city of Clarksdale in Coahoma County, located in northwestern Mississippi. The utility provides electric, water, and wastewater services to residential, commercial, and municipal customers.

Impacts: With BEL’s assistance, Clarksdale is pursuing funding through the Mississippi Grid Resilience Program under Section 40101(d). By combining substation and feeder infrastructure upgrades with the deployment of a modern outage management system (OMS), the utility will measurably reduce outages and provide a foundation for new industrial growth in the city and across the Mississippi Delta. The substation improvements will improve voltage stability, saving distribution costs due to reduced lines losses, while the OMS will help speed power restoration. Collectively, the improvements will reduce both frequency and duration of outages by 30%, improve the operation of critical and bolster economic opportunities in the region.

Twin County Electric Power Association

Hollandale, MS

Overview: Installing a tie line between two substations, along with feeder improvements, will provide greater system flexibility.

The Need: Aging infrastructure, radial feeder configurations, and lack of redundancy mean that over 1,000 homes and businesses served by Twin County Electric Power Association are vulnerable to multi-hour outages during storms and equipment failures. These prolonged outages threaten both residential quality of life and local industrial operations, and slow restoration after severe weather, further exacerbating economic recovery efforts. Improvements to an existing tie line are essential to protect the community and support growth in a region with limited alternative power sources.

Who: Twin County EPA serves about 12,659 residential, agricultural and small commercial customers in the Mississippi Delta across Washington and several neighboring counties.

Impacts: With BEL’s assistance, Twin County EPA is pursuing funding through the Mississippi Grid Resilience Program under Section 40101(d) that will allow the utility to modernize grid infrastructure and feeder circuits. By adding a 1.5-mile tie line between two critical substations, along with protective equipment and reconductoring, the utility will significantly improve reliability and reduce outages by 15% or more. The investments also position the region for industrial growth by increasing capacity by 2,500-3,000 kWs ensuring both households and industry have reliable power. The community will also benefit immediately through the creation of up to 15 direct jobs and through workforce training opportunities from the project, leading to a more skilled local workforce.

Southwest Mississippi Electric Power Association

Lorman, MS

Improving reliability and reducing outages in Southwest Mississippi 

Overview: Modern fault-management systems and mechanized vegetation control will enable Southwest Mississippi Electric Power Association (SWEPA) to reduce the frequency and duration of power outages across nine heavily forested counties in Mississippi.

Who: SWEPA serves 25,466 meters across Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Wilkinson counties in southwest Mississippi.

The Need: Dense forests and a growing number of beetle-killed pine trees making the region increasingly susceptible to power outages, especially during storms that saturate the region’s loess soils.

Action: SWEPA will deploy automatic circuit reclosers to isolate faults quickly and reduce outage duration. To reduce the occurrence of tree strikes on conductors, the cooperative will use feller-bunchers and other specialized mechanical equipment to clear dead trees from key rights-of-way. The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) is assisting the cooperative in securing funding to support these near-term reliability investments.

Impacts: The project is expected to reduce outage frequency by 15% and shorten outage duration by about 25 minutes per customer annually. The activities in the project will enhance electric reliability for families, businesses, schools, farms, and community institutions, strengthening regional resilience.

Quote: “These investments will mean fewer and shorter power outages for the families and businesses we serve.”

Greenwood Utilities

Greenwood, MS

Overview: Building a new 115 kV transmission line to modernize an outdated radial system into a looped configuration will reduce prolonged outages in a rural town.

Who: Greenwood Utilities serves around 9,269 customers in the city of Greenwood, located in Leflore County, Mississippi, near the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta. The utility provides electric and water services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers within the town limits.

The Need: Due to an outdated system radial system, residential and commercial customers experience prolonged interruptions that impact productivity, safety, and local economic growth. Modernization of the Greenwood grid is thus critical to provide consistent power, strengthen the community’s economic potential, and retain skilled workers.

Impacts: With BEL’s assistance, Greenwood is pursuing funding through the Mississippi Grid Resilience Program under Section 40101(d). The improvements will provide benefits to around 40% of the service territory, including most of the town of Greenwood. By improving reliability through the installation of a looper feeder, the project will improve power quality and reliability for residents, manufacturing and retail businesses. It is expected to lead to 30 jobs in skilled positions to support the system upgrades.