Electric Department Grants Pay Raises, Leases Radios

HUNTINGDON (December 19) — The 45 employees of Carroll County Electric Department will receive a four-percent increase in base pay effective January 1, 2025. The Board of Directors unanimously approved the increase during its December 19 meeting.

Ryan Drewry said the company generally increases the rate according to the Consumer Price Index each year. However, pay must be competitive with surrounding utility companies and area contractors performing similar work. Two of CCED’s employees recently left the company to work with contractors. Drewry said the CPIW, a federal index was 3.7 percent. Employees also are compensated with 100 percent of the employee’s and dependent's health insurance paid and a 12 percent match on their base pay that applies to retirement.

All mobile and handheld radios used by lineman will soon be replaced with digital radios that operate on the Tennessee Advanced Communications Network (TACN). The network will provide through coverage within the county, regardless of location.

Drewry said the current radios were installed in 2008 when the company converted from analog to digital. At that time, the antenna was mounted on Charter Communications tower. In 2016, Charter abandoned use of the tower and asked CCED, the county fire department and county sheriff’s department to relocate their transmission antenna to a lower elevation tower behind Carroll County Jail. The new location was problematic for the digital radios to send and receive in many areas of the county.

Mark Simpson and Danny Toombs, supervisors CCED said the lack of radio communications is danger for lineman, who must know if the electrical lines are energized or if another problem occurs when crews are working, especially in storms.

The 60-month contract is for 22 mobile units and eight handheld at $117 monthly per unit. That includes all repairs, maintenance, or replacement as needed for a total of $3,510 each.

The communication network, TACN, is operated by Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. The state maintains all towers and antennas, relieving CCED of the cost to maintain an in-house network. Also, CCED can contact other agencies, such as sheriff or fire, to respond to a location.

CCED recently implemented a new outage reporting system, which electric customers can check CCED’s website to see the geographic location of outages. The report updates each 11 minutes to provide the most accurate report of outage areas.

A new after-hours dispatch company was contracted to dispatch. The Missouri-based Daupler provides the service. Lineman can receive text messages of the location of a problem. Customers can also upload photos of the damage so CCED will be informed of the extent of damage prior to arriving at the scene.

Silicon Ranch is constructing its 6.5 megawatt solar array in Trezevant. The project was started in September and should be operational by May, 2025. Located at Power Station Road, Trezevant, the array will connect with CCED and provide lower-cost electricity to CCED.