Chicago company to buy Nixa’s transmission assets for $9.1M

Chicago-based transmission company GridLiance Holdco LP entered a definitive agreement with the city of Nixa to purchase its electric transmission assets.

The roughly $9.1 million deal includes a 10-mile, 69-kilovolt transmission line between City Utilities’ James River Power Station in Springfield and Nixa, as well as five substations and related infrastructure. Subject to state and federal regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, said Nixa Public Works Director Doug Colvin.

Under the terms of the agreement, GridLiance’s subsidiary, South Central MCN LLC, would gain full operational control of Nixa’s transmission assets, requiring the company to abide by regional, state and federal compliance requirements. Nixa would purchase power from the line from GridLiance and then sell it to its residents via city-owned utility provider Nixa Electric. In addition to buying power from CU, Nixa has a similar line in place with Southwest Power Administration, which sells hydroelectric power to the city, Colvin said.

“In Nixa’s particular case, we are already seeing coming within the next couple of years some very significant cost increases for transmission,” he said. “Part of that is regulatory compliance. A lot of that is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and others … are requiring a lot of additions to physical improvements in the lines, different softwares and monitoring, and all type of different things that are going to cost a considerable amount of money.”

GridLiance, which was incorporated in 2014, also announced plans today to purchase Hooker, Okla.’s transmission assets.

Through its membership in the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission, Nixa also has the opportunity to invest in transmission projects to lower costs for all of the organization’s 71 municipal retail electric systems, Colvin said.