Volume 6, Issue 3 - October 2013
The Supplier
WUE UPDATE
Patronage checks and certificates totaling over $2.5M (based on member purchases for the period from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013) have been mailed to all members. The staff at WUE thanks you for all of your support. Where else can you buy overhead and underground construction material or required tools at competitive prices, shipped out of the two WUE warehouses and delivered weekly by WUE trucks directly to your warehouse PLUS receive a year end refund on your purchases. ONLY AT WUE!
Ermco, a cooperatively owned manufacturer of transformers has again extended capital credits to WUE for purchases of transformers during calendar year 2012.
EUDA members (other coop owned suppliers including General Pacific, Resco, Texas Electric, Arkansas Electric, United Utility Supply, Gresco, Tema and Ceeus) met in late September to converse with selected vendors, discuss mutual concerns and address individual company and group projects.
Duncan Valley Electric in Duncan, AZ is now a participant in WUE's inventory management program. They are the first cooperative from Arizona to participate in the program.
Graham County Electric Coop in Pima, AZ has joined WUE as WUE's 58th member. All members enjoy the benefits of competitive pricing, having required construction material stocked in WUE warehouses, fast delivery, superior service and annual capital credits.
Dave Cummins has joined the Albuquerque office as an account manager providing service to customers in the western half of New Mexico and all of Arizona.
Adam Tomczak has joined the Albuquerque office as a distribution sales specialist.
WUE has been approved as a distributor for the Jameson Company and the Dottie Company. Your WUE account manager will be promoting their products.
WUE has also been approved as an Okonite distributor for selected accounts in New Mexico and Arizona and now has an inventory of Okonite cable at our New Mexico facility. Additionally, American Electric has approved WUE as a distributor in New Mexico.
WUE has negotiated a substantially better price for Hendrix polymer insulators. The insulators are now more competitively priced as compared to porcelain. See your WUE account manager for more information.
New Products Update
Vaughn, a manufacturer of high efficiency water heaters, is entering the rural electric coop market and has placed on consignment at Western United an inventory of appropriate water heaters to facilitate easy shipments to member coops. The Vaughn water heater differs from Rheem/ Marathon in that the unit has increased insulation, a steel panel and cement lining between the heated water and the outside plastic jacket. The unit has a 10 year warranty.
Durham has introduced a tin plated copper extension bar that enables 600V secondary cables that may be too short to be connected inside three phase transformers. The extension bar is slotted to allow for flexible height adjustment and contains the standard NEMA spacing, although other configurations are also available. Request P/N 902166 when ordering from your WUE inside sales representative.
Cresatech (a new company currently developing solutions for the electric utility industry) has introduced a new system (CuTS) designed to notify electric utility personnel if there is any disconnection or removal of the grounding infrastructure inside of a substation. The system sounds an alarm/light on site and/or notifies the utility's office of any changes that occur in the substation system's inductance (which indicates someone is trying to steal the copper grounding infrastructure). An on-going pilot test is being conducted on one of Mountain View Electric Coop's substation sites in cooperation with Tri State Electric personnel. The test to date has resulted in several product improvements and has verified the integrity/ viability of the new product. Please see your WUE account managers for more information or for a technical presentation.
Burndy continues to introduce products that assist the lineman. Their new FASTAP connector line introduces three unique features to the standard parallel groove clamp: spring-loaded lineman assist, duckbill handles and conductor side-entry capability. These three features work in concert to improve the installation speed, safety and reliability of the connection. The installation begins when the lineman squeezes the duckbill handle to enable the tap conductor to be side loaded into the connector. This side-entry feature enables faster insertion of the tap conductor without removing any of the prefilled oxide inhibitor that is necessary for a reliable connection. The innovative spring assist then acts as a third hand by providing a constant force on the tap conductor and securing it. Using the duckbill as a guide, the lineman then snaps FASTAP onto the conductor, tightens it, and the connection is complete. The entire process takes literally only seconds which is particularly important during storm restorations.
Hubbell continues to enhance utility system reliability and safety with their new parking stand lightning arrester. The device is a gapless MOV surge arrester designed to provide shielded dead-front arrester protection for 15KV URD systems. The parking stand arrester limits overvoltage to acceptable levels, thus protecting equipment and extending its life. The arrester is installed at the end of a radial system or at both ends of an open point in a loop circuit and will provide excellent protection against high-voltage surges resulting from lightning or switching. Fully shielded and submersible, it takes up less space than a feed-thru and elbow arrester combination. See you WUE account manager for more information.
3M Dynatel, a leader in cable/ secondary fault locators has introduced a new series 7500 cable/pipe/fault/ EMS Tape locators. The new locators employ the same unique 3M technology that allows for the unit to be used for multiple types of locations. The unit has 10 frequencies, either direct connect or induction, ohm meter, depth measurement, rechargeable battery kit, 240V protection and 600V secondary fault detection. See your WUE account manager for a presentation today.
3M has also introduced a line of 69KV terminations that compliment their line of 15/25/35 KV terminations and splices. Faster, simpler installation than porcelain, field proven cold shrink technology. Contact your WUE account manager for a presentation.
Ermco has been manufacturing a single phase pad mounted transformer (either 15KVA or 25KVA) for Sangre De Cristo Electric Coop for many years that enables the coop to eliminate the use of a single phase sectionalizing box in new subdivisions. The transformer is manufactured with three primary side bushings thus allowing for two primary cable taps rather than the traditional singular tap. The size of the unit is the same as a standard single phase transformer. A 15" high fiberglass ground sleeve is used under the unit to allow for the additional cable placement and training. The unit has a very small incremental cost and reduces the added labor and material to install a separate sectionalizing box and junctions. Consumers like the fact that there is only one box and not two boxes in the front or rear lot lines. Please see your WUE account manager for more information (Ermco quote number 309094).