Seneca City Council discusses Substation and Generation Projects

On December 20th KMEA staff presented options for discussion on a new substation and generation project to the city of Seneca City Council.

Several months ago, Evergy proposed substantial upgrades to the substation that currently serves Seneca and the local Rural Electric Cooperative.   Seneca staff reached out to KMEA for review of the Evergy plan and potential additional cost to the city if this project got completed.  KMEA and city staff quickly put a list of options together for presentation to the Seneca city council.  The city council reviewed five different options at the meeting.  These options consisted of Evergy moving forward on the rebuilding of the current substation to Seneca city adding a substation along with three generating units to the city’s electric department.  Currently Seneca does not have generating capacity as part of their electric utility.   “The goal for the city is to provide the most reliable and economic utility possible” says Steve Brooks, city manager.

The city council reviewed all the options and gave city staff and KMEA instructions to evaluate the options and evaluate what impact these options would have on the city’s retail rates to the customers.  KMEA and city staff will present the requested information at a meeting in January.