Bertram remains a vital part of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative to this day, more than 80 years after the first lines of the electric cooperative were energized near this Burnet County community in 1939, PEC officials told Burnet County commissioners last week.
“Bertram represents about 12 percent of the PEC service territory with 940 square miles,” said Troy Whitehead, regional manager for the Bertram and Liberty Hill districts. “We serve 17,120 meters and we’ve added on average 51 meters per month, or 305 meters so far this year up to the end of June.”
“We’re the largest distribution co-op in the country, much less the state. We now have almost 360,000 meters,” added PEC CEO Julie Parsley. “When I started with the co-op three and a half years ago, we had just broken 300,000 meters, so in that time, we have added nearly 60,000 meters. That just attest to how quickly our area is growing, how quickly Burnet County is growing and all through our service territory.
“We keep setting new records for number of applications we see each month, for numbers of miles of line we are putting in, for number of meters. Your average co-op in the United States is 13,000 meters. The Marble Falls regional district has 31,000 meters, so it is more than twice as large as your average coop, while Bertram/Liberty Hill has 17,000 meters, so it is also far larger than your average co-op.”
The Bertram office has 39 operations and member services employees, Whitehead said. Recently, the district completely rebuilt its Burnet substation and “we’re finishing up the very last bit this week and the new stuff will be energized next week.
“We’ve also upgraded several circuits from single-phase to three-phase to help deal with the load that growth has brought us,” Whitehead added. “There are more than 800 lots that are either in construction or in the planning phase. That includes Miller Creek, River Hills, Dockal Ranches, Flores Park, Grande Estates, Homestead Hills, Ridgepoint Estates and Oaks Vista. Most of these are all a part of Burnet County and are brand-new and we have already been contacted to start planning for those jobs.”
Other plans include replacing equipment and lines in the circuit between Burnet and Dobyville, which will impact 250 members and double the power capacity in that area.
“We are so happy to see all of our communities grow and thrive because the bulk of our employees by far and away are also members,” Parsley said. “They have a very specific point of view and care for our membership deeply because their families and friends live here.”
