Five area utilities from the Nebraska Municipal Power Pool’s (NMPP) Project Upgrade safety and training group met May 17 in Stuart, Neb., for a one-day line rebuild and voltage conversion project that also served as a training and safety session.
Utility personnel from the municipal utilities Stuart, Arnold, Callaway, Sargent and Burwell participated in the project, which included setting 14 poles and stringing about one mile of wire.
“Participating in these training sessions helps utilities to keep their personnel adequately trained and focused on safety at all times,” said NMPP Utility Service Representative Bob Meade. “Public power utilities learn and share from one another and help each other in times of need.”
Active for more than 25 years, Project Upgrade is the oldest of the four training groups that NMPP facilitates within its membership. The groups, which include 32 utilities, are divided geographically and conduct regular safety and training sessions. Line rebuild projects like the one in Stuart not only provide training with a focus on safety to new utility personnel, but also highlight mutual aid – area municipal utilities helping one another in a time of need.
NMPP’s Mutual Aid Program started in the mid-1980s. Today, there are more than 60 NMPP communities that participate in the program.