Power capacity, supply chains, worry Doddridge

Northcentral Electric Cooperate CEO/general manager Kevin Doddridge provided an annual report to the Byhalia Area Chamber of Commerce Aug. 1, with both positive and cautious outlooks on the capacity of its main wholesale power provider, Tennessee Valley Authority, to keep up with the grid’s demand for electricity. He also expressed concern about the supply chain for transformers and the longterm supply.

But before launching into the details of his report on Northcentral’s stability and growth, he presented an overview of his family history in the Byhalia and Olive Branch area. He also touched on prayer said by Delores Lay, president of the Chamber board of directors.

“Thank you for the remarks and the prayer to pause and allow God to work through us to do the many things we do,” he said.

`It’s hot out there, guys,” he said. “Remember how hot it was when you get your bill.” Doddridge was born and raised in Olive Branch and his family roots are deep in Marshall County, particularly in the Byhalia and Potts Camp areas, and goes back to the 1700s in the Cayce area, he said.

The late Wayne Hollowell, with Northcentral, was the man who hired him saying to Doddridge, “it’s public power, it’s not private power.”

Freshly graduated from Ole Miss with a business degree, Hollowell offered Doddridge the job as general manager.

“I took the job to buy a little time to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up,” he said. “Thirty-seven years and I am still here.”

The basic economy in DeSoto and Marshall counties in the late 1940’s and early ’50’s was agribusiness and there was not a large demand for electricity. Northcentral was birthed in Coldwater and generated it’s own power in the beginning of operations.

Doddridge said it took 10 years to start making money and another 10 years to recoup Northcentral’s losses after the start up.

But construction of several subdivisions in DeSoto County, particularly Southaven, increased Northcentral’s customer base.

“Other power companies didn’t want us to serve Southaven, so Boss E.H. Crump, mayor of Memphis, helped negotiate a deal that moved us to Byhalia and eastern DeSoto County,” Doddridge said.

Soon Northcentral moved its headquarters from Coldwater to Byhalia.

“We became a thriving cooperative because of that,” he said.

Last year, Northcentral added 500 new accounts. Revenue was $137 million last year and $139 million this year. Revenue is projected to be $145 million next year, with most of that going to pay for wholesale power. Northcentral projects a growth in total budget next year of $180 million due to new home construction.

Northcentral added $45 million in assets and $30 million was for fiber.

There is potential for hundreds of new houses to come on line in Marshall County.

TVA is raising its wholesale power rates by 4.5 percent which will be passed on to the consumer.

Doddridge said that increase at retail bill be 4.3 percent.

Northcentral proposed a 2.5 percent increase for itself on top of that, but reduced it to 2 percent after seeing the positive effects of the Byhalia solar project, Doddridge said.

“TVA does project a 15 percent total increase in wholesale rates over the next five years,” Doddridge said. “That will equate to 11.25 percent increase at retail.”

Northcentral buys 95 percent of its wholesale power from TVA.

“Everything is going good here at Northcentral,” he said, because of its great staff and very superior board of directors.

He said TVA is struggling to keep pace with demand. Project Valley Vision projects the need for 33,000 megawatts of power and for that to grow by 30 percent to 40 percent by 3035, projecting a demand for 42,000 megawatts, short by 3,000 megawatts it needs.

He said Northcentral may have to begin generating some of its own power and anticipates a budget of $250 million to $350 million to generate additional capacity.

The industry needs to have more wind, water, and nuclear power generation, he said.

He said the power generation industry is shutting down multi-million dollar projects already built.

“We are tearing down the old barn before we build the new one,” he said. “We have concerns to go forward. We need TVA to build small nuclear facilities. We need small modular nuclear reactors we can dot through the Valley, basically the same technology as on aircraft carriers and submarines. Congress is working to advance this project through R & D (research and development) for construction.

Doddridge also said there is a need for more transformers for the supply chain. But there is a plan to build new transformers constructed of amorphous steel even in the midst of a shortage of the current generation of transformers.

“CEOs are gearing up to bring in new transformers. We will see escalating costs if the ruling goes forward,” Doddridge said.

The greenhouse gas rule, in effect now through the Environmental Protection Agency, is also a concern, he said.

“We can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” he said. The greenhouse gas will be lowered somewhat by 2035. The gas rule limits generation. The rule eliminates coal and it is unrealistic to capture carbon (emissions from coal fired power plants). Natural gas operates at 20 to 40 percent capacity,” Doddridge said.

The rule causes the industry to overbuild. He expects the rule to go from the appellate level to the Supreme Court.

“This is a bad rule,” he said. “We need to get Congress to work on this. We need agencies to not make decisions. We need a long-term energy policy, like the farm bill, to guide them to make sure we have a very solid energy supply. We can export when needed to stabilize (countries).

“All this seems like a big don’t, but the most important thing is to work in an environment of safety. It’s not just our workers, it’s the general public.”

He said more businesses are wanting to put their infrastructure on utility poles and their worker’s safety is important as well.

Northcentral has 125 employees and 75 full-time contracted workers.

He said safety is going to continue to be the first priority, “or you are going to see somebody else up here.”

“It’s what keeps me up at night when a storm comes through,” he said. “When I think times are bad, we do have a God, we are His people and He loves us.”