PENSACOLA, Fla. - Aug. 12, 2008 - Gulf Power has decided it will not build a new transmission line in the Devilliers Street area to connect two substations in Pensacola.

Instead, the utility will upgrade an existing transmission line that has been in place for more than 50 years along E Street.

“Our goal is to have very satisfied customers,” said John Hutchinson, Gulf Power’s general manager of Public Affairs. “When our customers are happy, we are all winners.”

The project is critical to keeping the lights on for more than 11,000 customers served directly by the two substations and the more than 50,000 customers served indirectly on the area grid. The current transmission line serving the two substations is at 100 percent capacity which means it cannot be used for backup service, nor can it accommodate growth.

Hutchinson said upgrading the existing line will be more costly and delay the project for several months, but that listening to customers was a high priority at Gulf Power.

“We have been very open to customer input from the beginning of this project. We even stopped the project to make sure we were taking the time to listen,” Hutchinson said.

And, because the company will be working on an existing line that will have to be turned off from time to time, Hutchinson said they could run the risk of a power outage if other transmission lines have a problem and can’t pick up the load. He said outages were not expected and Gulf Power will do its best to prevent them – but they could occur if backup lines are unavailable.

“We were able in this situation to choose an option that works operationally and that works better for customers,” Hutchinson said. “While we may not always be able to do this, in this case it makes the most sense.” 

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