By Rory Sweeney

AUSTIN, Texas — More than three years after it was initially conceived, a short but expensive transmission line to address expected growth in the suburban areas of Denton County, Texas, finally received state regulatory approval last week.

The Public Utility Commission approved a somewhat unusual “settlement stipulation” that committed the City of Frisco to paying more than half of the bill for a hybrid above/below-ground route. The 2.9-mile 138-kV project, which received more than 3,000 comments in protest of various above-ground proposed alternatives, was approved with the stipulation that more than 90% of it be installed underground. Built and operated by the Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, the line will run west along Frisco’s Main Street from an existing Oncor line tap to a new Stonebrook substation.

Based on its projected $24.5 million cost, the commissioners were reticent to approve the more expensive burying options, but they relented because Frisco agreed to pay more than $12 million to get its specified, mostly underground option approved. The agreement will allow the line to be laid underground as part of a widening and water line installation project the city had already planned for the street.

Combined with the existing $6 million cost credit for the route the PUC had been prepared to approve, Brazos will be able to recoup $12 million through transmission cost of service recovery. Should Frisco fail to make its payments, the agreement allows Brazos to revert to the all-overhead route.

State Sen. Jane Nelson, who represents the area as the state’s highest-ranking Republican, wrote a letter to the PUC in support of the agreement, saying there were few other viable options because both the Texas Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied use of their land. Overhead lines would have eventually conflicted with infrastructure needs for street widening and water lines, she said.

She also applauded Frisco for contributing more than 50% of the total cost and more than 67% of the incremental cost to bury the lines. The commissioners joined Nelson is noting that Frisco’s commitment is “far exceeding” that of other municipalities in similar situations.

The additional costs still didn’t sit well with commissioners, despite arguments that it was a better plan for expected future growth. “I have concerns with uplifting any underground costs to ratepayers,” Commissioner Brandy Marty Marquez said.

“There’s a heavy burden to prove that the undergrounding needs to take place because it’s so much more expensive than placing the lines above ground,” Commission Chairman Donna L. Nelson said at last week’s meeting.

But they had also heard from many citizens near the route, who had organized themselves into a group called Bury the Lines. The city acknowledged that the above-ground routes were “universally opposed” by the community.

The agreement requires that Frisco have its widening and water line project awarded within 15 months of the PUC’s final order.