While tallying costs in excess of $4.5 million, the completion of upgrades to Kirkwood’s Sugar Creek Substation will cap a decade of improvements set to increase both efficiency and reliability.
Kirkwood, which boasts a population of roughly 29,000, is the only municipality in St. Louis County to independently operate an electric service, and one of 54 municipal utilities in Missouri. The city started system-wide electric upgrades in 2012.
With a change in the local transmission voltage from 4,160 to 12,470 volts, and modernized monitoring and switching equipment, the city will both save money and improve service, according to Kirkwood Electric Director Mark Petty…