While a great deal of focus has been placed in recent years on the drought and the diminishing Central Texas water supply, regional energy leaders have quietly made efforts to ensure the Cedar Park and Leander area continues to receive reliable electricity.
The two suburban cities are served by Pedernales Electric Cooperative, the largest energy cooperative in the United States. Despite its rural headquarters in Johnson City, PEC has invested heavily in its metropolitan members.
PEC CEO John D. Hewa said in the past year alone, the energy provider spent $10 million on infrastructure improvements in Cedar Park and Leander. That effort helps expand capacity and increase reliability in the growing region, Hewa said.
"Our team is working very hard to make sure we're keeping up and out in front in terms of planning and capacity," Hewa said. "That allows us to serve the communities we work with to meet evolving and emerging needs."
Founded in 1938, PEC celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. The rural electric cooperative serves 253,000 customers in an 8,100-square-mile territory, Hewa said, resulting in a wide array of issues that can vary greatly in nature.
Suburban versus rural
Record heat and excessive electricity use can overwhelm an energy grid, and rapid growth can add to the complications, Cedar Park Councilman Mitch Fuller said.
"Cedar Park is the largest city in the largest electric cooperative in the United States," Fuller said. "I think it's time to become very creative with how we approach electricity use."
Some creative new methods are already in the works, said Hewa, who took over the top spot at PEC in late July. PEC is embracing new technologies to help address members' wide-ranging needs, he said, by making the cooperative more efficient and reliable.
For example, PEC has started a new meet-the-peak initiative that is designed to distribute energy use across the grid during peak usage hours.
"We've taken some very aggressive stances in planning our ability to offset some of the capacity growth through some energy-efficient methods," Hewa said.
PEC also provides in-home energy audits and works directly with large commercial customers to help them become more efficient, he said.
"In addition to that, we're also investing in local capacity and backup energy supply to make sure when there are issues on the distribution system that we have alternative ways of providing service and are in a position to provide service in a timely manner," Hewa said.
While Cedar Park may be the fourth fastest-growing city in the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau, Leander has more than 10,000 residential homes in various stages of development, resulting in another unique set of concerns, Mayor Chris Fielder said.
"As much new development as we have, we're needing to get electricity to other parts of the city that are just now being built out," Fielder said. "It's crucial we work together [with PEC] to cleanly get electricity to these other parts of the city."
Similar to how Cedar Park and Leander collaborated with Round Rock to gain a reliable long-term water supply, Fielder said it is also important to work as a region on electricity needs.
"We need our co-ops to do the same for us," he said. "We can't have one group or provider dominating, controlling or causing problems for our growth."
Evolving energy market
PEC serves as the Lower Colorado River Authority's largest wholesale energy customer, representing approximately one-third of all LCRA electricity business. By 2016, that piece of the pie could grow to one-half when 10 of LCRA's 43 wholesale energy customers are expected to go elsewhere for electricity.
If that transition proves true, PEC could have a larger say on LCRA's Rate and Resources Council, Hewa said. The council provides wholesale customers with a forum to address concerns and promote priorities. Hewa said one of PEC's top priorities is to leverage more alternative renewable resources.
"That is one of the opportunities brought into our long-term contract with LCRA that allows [PEC] to have some flexibility" by using alternative energy sources such as wind energy to meet peak demand periods, he said.
LCRA and PEC also coordinate regularly on rate structures and market forces that could affect rates, said Michael McCluskey, LCRA executive manager of energy services.
"I have a counterpart at PEC I talk to several times a week," McCluskey said. "Coming out of summertime, we've talked about how well everyone is doing in terms of managing peak demands because this was a hot summer—it was the fifth-hottest summer on record in the Central Texas region."
Fortunately, he said, price hikes were not significant this year, mostly because of periodic rains that reduced energy demand considerably during traditional peak usage periods. Such concerns about price hikes are not unusual, McCluskey said.
"It's part of a very healthy relationship between a supplier and purchaser," he said. "They keep us on our toes, and in return we work with them on their own initiatives."
The two groups are connected contractually until 2041, making it essential that the relationship remain balanced, McCluskey said.
"We greatly value PEC's business, and we hope they feel as good about us as we feel about them," he said. "We'll continue to improve that relationship."
