Victory Powerline Services' oversight on overhead distribution saves $1.4M for Southeast electric utility

MOUNT DORA, FL, UNITED STATES, July 9, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Victory Powerline Services has completed inspection and oversight services on a major distribution hardening project that was part of a Southeast electric utility’s effort to improve the grid by boosting reliability and reducing the risk of outages. The project’s initial design called for a stacked double-circuit overhead feeder line, running from a substation, on 58 concrete poles standing 70 feet. When the utility encountered challenges with height restrictions, engineers revised the project to place the customer-loaded feeder overhead on smaller concrete poles and the express feeder under a pedestrian walk, parallel to a multi-lane highway.

“Our job site manager looked at the design and saw that putting the express feeder underground would take several county and special permits and likely a year of construction, including tearing up over a mile of sidewalk, lane closures for equipment, and more,” said John Wingfield, director of Field Operations for Victory Powerline Services. “Going underground would also include cranes at a rate of $3,000 to $4,000 per day as well as the cost of boring machines, working at night to abide by the permitting, and traffic control.”

According to Wingfield, the underground feeder cable size was to be 1,000 MCM and the design called for three conductors in a six-inch duct each at $3 per foot, which tallied approximately $400,000 in wire. VPS calculated the labor and additional materials, including switchgear and reclosers, at more than $750,000. Along with the equipment, the underground design would add $1.4 million to the project budget.

VPS proposed putting both circuits in the air but building the line back-to-back on 55-foot concrete poles with one circuit on the field side and the other roadside to allow the use of distribution line trucks and equipment, which could handle erecting up to 60-foot concrete poles. VPS confirmed the utility’s standards book accommodated for this type of construction.

After the utility company’s standards group approved the VPS proposal, the engineering firm redesigned the plans. And the contract construction crews were able to hit the in-service date set by the state’s public service commission. VPS provided daily progress reports to the utility’s project manager who was able to share these with the public service commission.

“Experienced job site management always delivers a payback; but this is a remarkable case where strategic job oversight changed the entire direction of a project for the benefit of the utility and ratepayer, saving $1.4 million,” said Adam Prosser, CEO of ATK Energy Group.

About Victory Powerline Services
Victory Powerline Services, part of ATK Energy Group, provides a superior level of service to our clients by utilizing only highly qualified linemen and engineers to oversee the construction and repair work on transmission, distribution and substations. Victory Powerline Services is a certified woman-owned business. For more information, email contact@victorypowerlineservices.com.
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Kris
Tietig
contact@victorypowerlineservices.com
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