By Jeremy Wise
Marketing Manager
10 New Subdivision Plats Project to Add 1,452 Homes to Coosa Valley Electric Cooperative’s Territory by 2025.
Why has the Coosa Valley, especially the Lincoln area, become a popular place to build? In the words of 1 housing developer: location, location, location.
“From Lincoln, you can go toward Oxford, Anniston, Birmingham or Gadsden for work,” says Mark Higginbotham, area manager for Rausch Coleman, a housing developer operating in multiple states. “You have Lincoln’s Landing and a lot of nice restaurants. Pell City has about everything you need. And you don’t have to worry about traffic.”
Like many community organizations and government leaders, CVEC welcomes the growth. Rapid growth of this scale though, affects many aspects of the cooperative’s operations — including planning on future projects, equipment purchases and how manpower is used.
Working New Plans
CVEC, like many cooperatives, creates 4-year work plans that help prioritize system needs and budget for these items.
In February, the CVEC board approved the newest work plan that will take the cooperative through 2027. The plan further magnifies the growth trend that was anticipated toward the conclusion of the previous work plan.
“You take a look at this work plan and how the cost has doubled since the last one,” says Spencer Whisenant, interim manager of engineering. “Inflation has a lot to do with that, but $15 million out of the $62 million we’re having to allot to growth of 650 new consumers per year alone.”
That figure doesn’t include other projects that will help CVEC account for anticipated new growth.
Within the next 4 years, CVEC plans to relocate its Eureka substation closer to nearby pockets of huge growth. That, combined with upgrades to newer technologies, will allow CVEC to deliver power to that area more efficiently and economically.
The project follows a few others CVEC has engaged to accommodate growth in the Lincoln and Pell City areas.
In 2023, the cooperative officially powered up a substation in the Holly Hills area near Lincoln. Its construction allowed engineers to shift some of the electrical load from 2 other smaller and older substations.
This spring, CVEC will open a substation in the Cropwell area, which will help with capacity issues at the New London substation. This will also assist with the load anticipated from the development of 2 new subdivisions, including the 450-home Lakemont neighborhood.
A Changing Workforce
Most subdivision developers prefer underground utility construction due to aesthetics, reliability, and other factors. As a result, almost half of the anticipated new power line additions in the next 4 years will be subterranean — a new record for CVEC.
“This is the most underground and subdivisions I’ve ever seen here,” says Whisenant, an 11-year CVEC veteran.
Those projects are changing how the cooperative organizes its line crews. In 2024, Manager of Operations Robert Smith plans to add an underground line crew that operates solely in subdivisions during normal working hours.
Smith will consider experience when creating the crews since underground work is vastly different than aerial jobs.
“You’re not in the bucket as much, so it’s a lot of groundwork,” he says. “You don’t want to take away the young guys because the young guys need to be in the bucket. Learning that part of the job is top priority for them.”
Additionally, underground power line work has increased difficulty.
“You have to treat it a little differently because you can’t see the wires underground,” he says. “There’s a lot of testing and grounding. You get dirty a lot. You’ve got to get out of ditches, and it’s usually aggravating.”
Furthermore, the equipment needed to install underground power lines vastly differs from aerial construction. 1 of the biggest pieces CVEC will acquire in 2024 is another mini excavator that will be primarily used to dig trenches in compact areas inside subdivisions.
Here to Stay
Some who know recent history may fear this much growth will eventually cause a housing collapse, similar to the one in 2007 and 2008. Higginbotham notes several factors have improved that limit the chances of another collapse, including better lending practices.
Additionally, many houses built in the mid-2000s were speculative in anticipation of more growth. Many of Rausch Coleman’s homes and townhomes are being sold rather quickly.
“In Deer Brook, we built 59 homes in less than a year, and 52 of them sold within a year range,” Higginbotham says. “In the last 15 years, there has been a shortage of new houses in America. That left everybody in rental situations. We believe in getting people out of rental situations.”
And since the economy has changed to a more mobile workforce, people do not have to live in or near major metro areas to find quality work. This allows them to purchase homes in rural locations like Lincoln or Pell City while maintaining a high quality of life.
Cooperative Supporting Growth
CVEC’s fiber-to-the-home internet subsidiary, Coosa Valley Technologies, further sustains the growth the Lincoln and Pell City areas are seeing. In the newest work plan, CVEC budgeted about $3 million for new fiber drops, infrastructure that allows homes to connect to CVT’s reliable service quickly.
“We have a few people in Deer Brook that work from home,” Higginbotham says. “Internet availability is a question that is asked extremely quickly. You have to have it for homework assignments. You need something that is very good and dependable.
“I love working with Coosa Valley Technologies, where it is a good product. I haven’t had any complaints from our residents about the service — ever.”
Supporting and inspiring the region’s growth is just 1 of the reasons why CVT — and CVEC — were founded in the first place, notes General Manager Jon Cullimore.
“Coosa Valley Electric Cooperatives’ founders realized the value electricity had for quality of life and business purposes,” he says. “More than 75 years later, another utility — broadband internet — emerged with the same effect, which is why we decided to create Coosa Valley Technologies.
“We’re ecstatic that our area is experiencing rapid growth, and we’re proud to provide the utilities that support it. Our area’s success will be our success.”