HMU began purchasing power for resale from the Department of Energy on December 21, 1956 and the generators were put on a stand-by basis. The generators were removed in the winter of 1988-1989.

Most of our electricity comes from hydro-electric generators on the Missouri River, known as our WAPA power, and the remainder comes from the coal generation plant, known as The Louisa Generation Plant, in Muscatine, Iowa.  HMU owns a portion of the Louisa Generation Plant and has 5.6MW of energy available for our own use or resale to other communities.

There are four substations in Harlan supplied with transmission voltage of 69,000 volts. The substations then reduce or "step down" the voltage to a distribution voltage of 12,470 and 4,160 volts. The distribution voltage travels throughout Harlan, going through various sizes and types of distribution transformers, which step down the voltage even more to a consumer-use voltages such as 120-240 single phase, 240 volt 3-phase, 208 volt 3-phase, 480 volt delta, and 480 volt wye.

About one-half Harlan's distribution system is underground.  Burying utility lines has been the subject of increasing attention in recent years both by engineers who see this as a means of increasing reliability at an acceptable incremental cost, and the general public who view it as a means of improving community appearance.

New developments in cables and construction methods have made modernization of electrical utilities possible. Further refinements will attest to the economics and desirability of placing facilities underground.

Outage time is reduced by having four interconnected substations. If a problem occurs in one part of Harlan, our highly trained employees can find the problem, isolate it and re-route power to customers.

Harlan has approximately 10 miles of fiber optics used to help monitor substation functions and power flow. Monitoring the distribution system allows us to quickly diagnose outages and to be more efficient in responding to outages.

Starting in 2001, we began a 15 year program to upgrade, update and maintain our system. This 15 year plan is designed to help HMU provide adequate, reliable and safe service for years to come.

Electric Utility Employees

HMU Electric Department Serving You:
BACK ROW: Dave Goede, since 1978 - Journeyman Lineman; Steve Patten, since 1991 - Journeyman Lineman; Randy Musich, since 1971 - Line Crew Foreman;
FRONT ROW:  Dean Gessert, since 1989 - Journeyman Lineman; Luke Clark, since 1979 - Journeyman Lineman; Larry Buttry, since 1975 - Line Crew Foreman

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