New council members received a briefing about Garland Power & Light and Texas Municipal Power Agency (TMPA) last week from Jim Harder, Art Martinez, and Jeff Janke. Bill Dollar, city manager, was also there to help with questions. It was a high-level presentation to familiarize the new members with GP&L. I thought it might be helpful to some to pass on some of the information for those that aren't intimately familiar with GP&L and TMPA. Today's information is about GP&L:

Garland Power & Light - the Early Days

• In the early 1920's, the City sought power from Texas Power & Light to run the City's first water and sewer system
• The City was unable to secure reasonable commercial or residential rates from TP&L
• Twenty local business men contributed $1000 each to finance the City's power distribution system - GP&L
• This enabled the purchase of a 100-horsepower generator that would be backed up by the 75-horsepower emergency generator that came with the water pumping equipment
• April 1, 1923 - C. E. Newman closed the switch starting electric generation by Garland Power & Light to 300 customers with a load of 70 kilowatts (kW)
• Bonds were issued over time to enable GP&L to add units

GP&L Organization

• Administration - Manages GP&L's Budgets, Finance, Rates, Information Technology, Contract Coordination, Key Accounts, Marketing, Safety & Training, and Customer Service for GP&L
• Transmission & Distribution - Responsible for the electric transmission and distribution system
• Production - Responsible for power generation
• Operations - Forecasts real-time demand for electricity, controls the output of generation equipment, manages the information technology systems that allow the system to operate, responsible for substation operations, and interfaces with the rest of the ERCOT electric grid
• Customer Service - Responsible for new accounts, meter reading, billing and utility revenue collection for GP&L and the other City of Garland utilities

GP&L Statistics and Information

• Over 67,000 customers (85% of Garland)
• Third largest municipal utility in texas and 39th in U.S.
• Distribution System
  • 1007 miles of overhead lines
  • 1000 miles of underground lines
• Transmission System
  • 133 miles of transmission lines
  • 22 substations (including 2 new ones in 2006)
• Generation
  • Ray Olinger Plant (Lake Lavon)
  • C. E. Newman Plant (Garland)
  • Spencer Plant (Denton)
  • Lewisville Hydroelectric Plant
  • Partnership in TMPA
• Annual Operating Revenues for 2005 were $227 million

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