Bear Prairie, CEO of Lower Valley Energy, stepped into the SVI Radio studio on Tuesday, July 21 to provide an update on planned repairs in Swift Creek Canyon after a gate failure at the upper reservoir. Prairie also discussed a change in rate structure that will go into effect this fall.

The following transcript of the above interview is AI generated. Minor spelling errors are likely to occur.

(0:00) Joining me live in studio now is Bear Prairie, CEO of Lower Valley Energy. Bear, good morning. (0:05) How are you doing today? Hey, good morning, dude.

Doing great. I appreciate your time. Always a (0:08) pleasure to have you in studio.

And let’s talk about what happened up Swift Creek Canyon last (0:12) week. Had a gate failure on the upper reservoir. What took place there? Yeah, it was a, you know, (0:17) exciting week last week for sure.

We actually had some crews up there early in the morning (0:24) and even the Friday before and everything looked good and was operating fine. And then we had some (0:30) phone calls that the creek was running exceptionally muddy and really high flows and the (0:34) reservoir is going down. So we hurried up and went up there in the, the sluice gate, which is that, (0:40) you know, similar to what they have on irrigation canals here that can, you know, you can let the (0:43) water, you know, drain from the bottom of the reservoir.

It had actually failed. And we got a (0:48) camera down there later, a few days later after the water cleared up and found that the gate has (0:54) failed catastrophically. So we can’t operate it.

And then also the panels within the original (1:00) steel have been destroyed and pushed out. So it, it has, you know, caused the reservoir to drain. (1:08) And then what caused the reservoir to then fill back up was the gate, the holes in it were getting (1:15) filled with logs and debris.

So it slowed down the flow of water. Since then, everything has stabilized (1:21) until mother nature gave us the rainstorm and then washed a bunch of debris back in the reservoir, (1:28) you know, the sediment from upstream from that landslide a few years ago. So.

Gotcha. So as it (1:34) currently sits now, is it, I guess, for lack of better term, plugged back up because of the debris? (1:40) Yeah. So what’s happened is it’s, it’s stabilized the flows to where the reservoir is down just a (1:45) little bit, but it seems to be holding at that level.

But I guess concurrent with this about six (1:51) months ago, the bearing on the generator catastrophically failed. So the generator for (1:57) the upper Swift Creek has been offline for about five months. And we’ve been waiting to mobilize (2:03) in a contractor to pull that generator and replace that bearing.

And then this happens. So the (2:10) contractor is up there now actually pulling that generator and that’ll allow us to bypass the river (2:16) channel to get down and then start working now on the gate. So we got, you know, kind of two (2:22) projects going on up there.

So I guess if it’s going to happen now, this is good time as ever. (2:26) So, but it does sound like it’s something you’ve got to completely drain the reservoir to get to (2:31) and fix then. Right? Yeah, we’re going to have to drain the reservoir because it is, you know, (2:37) nonoperable and in the lower position.

So we need to, you know, bypass we’ll end up building a (2:42) coffer dam or of some sort. And we’re working with, you know, engineers and contractors to (2:46) figure out the best way to do that, to route the river through the, you know, where the generator (2:51) normally sits. So we’ll use that, you know, bypass flume essentially, and then we can rebuild that (2:57) whole gate.

So it’s going to be a, you know, a process and a project. So we’re kind of working (3:01) through it step-by-step. Yeah.

So this isn’t going to be a quick fix then is what you’re saying. (3:06) It’s going to be a little bit. Yeah, it’s going to be a little bit.

We’re probably talking a couple (3:10) months before that thing’s fully back put together. Because, you know, the biggest thing we want to do (3:14) is make sure it gets rebuilt right. You know, it is, you know, 1940s vintage.

You want to, you know, (3:19) the channels in the Seuss gate. So we want to, you know, go through this and do it once properly. (3:24) Perfect.

So as far as safety to the public, I mean, everything seems like it’s (3:30) pretty good and stable now. Yeah, it is. But, you know, definitely want our biggest concern, (3:35) we did put some tape off up there and definitely doing the safety releases keep people away.

(3:40) One of the things we noticed is everybody quickly ran up there when the reservoir level is down and (3:44) they were jumping on the sandbars and all that. We don’t want somebody to, you know, slip and fall (3:49) in the reservoir and all that area. So it is, you know, certainly is dangerous up there right at (3:54) those intakes.

So please stay clear and, you know, honor the caution tape. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, (4:00) so anything else on that topic with the upper reservoir and just kind of working through that? (4:04) No, I just want to, you know, express certainly we have frustration how to, you know, irrigators (4:08) calling frustrated with the sediment coming down.

I think that’s one of the concerns is all the (4:12) sediment up there. Unfortunately, we don’t have an easy answer to that one. That’s that 2023 (4:19) landslide and talking to the geologists and the Forest Service.

They’re pretty strong feeling (4:24) that that’s going to continue when we get wet weather continue to slough off that whole hillside. (4:29) Mother Nature is way more powerful than we are. So, you know, we’re dealing with what we can to (4:34) try and, you know, manage the sediment, but we can’t, you know, we can’t magically make the (4:39) Just put a filter on it, bear.

Just put a filter on it. Exactly. How hard can it be? So, you know, (4:44) I appreciate the patience of all the irrigators in the valley.

We know it’s frustrating. You know, (4:48) we’re doing the best we can try to keep information out there. And we’re supposed to (4:51) get some, I guess, thunderstorms flash flood warnings.

It’s going to wash that sediment (4:55) downstream. Again, we can’t the filter filter solutions hard. Yeah, absolutely.

Bear Prairie (5:01) in studio this morning, CEO of Lower Valley Energy. Bear, what other topics did you want (5:06) to touch on today? Yeah, I want to hit, let everybody know, put out some press releases, (5:10) a lot of information, our website, but we did change rates. We, the board did approve a rate (5:16) change that will go effective October 1st.

Not only are we, you know, increasing rates a little (5:22) bit, it’s about 6% or 6% on average for residential, but how that affects everybody (5:29) is going to be very different because we also changed the rate design. We’re putting in place (5:34) a demand charge. So whatever your monthly peak KW demand is, you’re going to be charged also $1 (5:40) per KW.

Average residential home, that’s going to maybe be, you know, $6, $7 in the summer, (5:47) maybe $12, $15 in the winter on average, you know, $8 to $12 increase. But at the same time, (5:54) that base charge we lowered. So most people are going to see most kind of average residential (6:00) is going to see about an $8 increase, decrease per month.

So how this, you know, impacts everybody (6:06) is going to be different. And the reason we’re putting that demand charge in place is we found (6:10) is it’s more accurate for how we charge for the service that we do. So those of us that, you know, (6:16) that have a, you know, or those of you that have a large service, we have a lot of diversity in our (6:22) membership of some very large homes, very large services.

We want to make sure that, you know, (6:27) the stress and the pressure and the, you know, the utilization of our electric system that they’re (6:32) paying for those facilities. And the way to measure that is with that demand charge. So it is a more (6:37) accurate rate design to make sure that we don’t have any cross subsidies.

And when we, you know, (6:44) looked at our cost of providing that service, we did see that, you know, shift from those that were (6:49) more common kind of average residential users versus those ones that have very large services. (6:56) There was a, you know, a cross subsidy going on there. So we want to make sure that everybody’s (7:00) paying for the service that they’re receiving.

So this new rate structure goes into effect (7:04) already or will be in the future? It will go into effect October 1st. So we’ll start seeing it, (7:10) everybody will start seeing it on their November bills. And then we have a ton of information on (7:14) our website.

We’re really trying to get out in front of everybody, explain how this works. (7:18) We want to be fully, you know, transparent and hope, you know, then when everybody gets their (7:22) bills, they understand it. It’s like, okay, they understand what we’re doing.

And I know, you know, (7:26) nobody likes to see, you know, here that it’s like, hey, you know, our rates are going up a (7:29) little bit. And depending on how you use energy, your rate, actually, you know, your bill might go (7:33) down with this, you know, change. Nobody likes to see costs go up.

But at the same time, you know, (7:39) we’re dealing with the same pressures. And we need to make sure that we’re continuing to put, (7:42) you know, money into, you know, our members system so that, you know, we have that reliable (7:47) electric system people. Now it’s just about to increase the output of my transmitters.

(7:51) Yeah, crank it up. We’re here for you. (7:55) Bear Prairie Institute this morning, CEO of Lower Valley Energy.

And again, (7:59) details at lvenergy.com. Anything else we missed you wanted to touch on today? (8:03) Actually, I was gonna ask the expansion project seems to be going well for the natural gas (8:07) pipelines. Yeah, they’re doing great. Ton of work over in Fairview, expanding the main backbone, (8:13) we will be expanding service lines and bringing natural gas to that Fairview area here this fall.

(8:21) Craig, my gas managers probably going to keep it a little bit under wraps, because my phone’s (8:26) gonna be ringing before we’re fully ready. But you know, we’re excited about expanding gas and (8:30) bringing it through the valley. A lot of great, a lot of great service and opportunities there.

(8:34) So when people see all those pipes, all that work going on, that’s that’s what it is. It’s (8:38) the Lower Valley project. Yep, that’s the Lower Valley project.

So appreciate everybody’s patience (8:42) on that. As we are working around roadways and all that appreciate you slowing down for the guys and (8:46) letting them let them get the work done safely. Perfect.

Bear Prairie CEO of Lower Valley Energy. (8:50) Bear, it’s always a pleasure. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Duke. Always. It’s all part of (8:53) the weekday wake up this morning on the SBI radio network.