When the lights go out, the local linemen from Texas-New Mexico Power roll out.
They respond in extreme heat and extreme cold to ensure the community is safe and to re-energize the power lines as soon as possible.
“Some people wonder what we do for storm prep and winter,” said Jeremy Nortman, the area manager of all North Texas and Lewisville. “We meet with Denton County all the time for winter weather, extreme heat, big storms. ... Every time we know that there’s a big storm coming, ... we always have additional personnel here. We usually bring in guys and have them on standby.”
Even on a regular day, the local crews will roll out to work on fixing the issue, with someone on call at all times.
Nortman started his career with TNMP in 2000 as a meter reader in Lewisville.
“I went from a meter reader to the line crew, became a lineman and worked my way through ... to become what’s called a journeyman,” Nortman said. “... After that, I went to engineering as an engineer designer, and after that, transferred to a field supervisor, which covers what we call North West Texas.”
His background means Nortman can understand how to translate the needs of both sides to each other.
“I can see the lineman’s perspective of it, and I can also see the engineering side of why we’re doing certain things,” Nortman said.
During his time in the North Texas region, he has seen the growth firsthand.
“We’re hiring right now, just trying to keep up with the growth,” Nortman said of TNMP as a whole.
When he came to Pilot Point, the TNMP facility was on Foundation and there were six crew members based out of it.
Now, the main Pilot Point location is at the facility on St. John Road with 18 people out of it, and a northern substation is under construction on the old layout lot, with the former office planned to house the engineering staff that is based in Pilot Point.
“It is being energized by the end of the year,” Nortman said. “And that’s all for future growth.”
The added substation will provide increased capacity along with the Krugerville substation.
“If one goes down, the other one can take over,” Nortman said of the duplication.
That’s because sometimes all it takes is something small to cause a big outage, even with precautions in place.
“Sometimes all it takes is one squirrel to have a bad day, and a lot of people don’t understand that,” Nortman said.
