Pitt County Utilities

Utility Service Contacts
Water Systems
Wastewater Disposal
Natural Gas
Greenville Utilities Commission

KEY FACTOR SUMMARY

   Five communities with excess water and sewer capacity
   Underground aquifers and the Tar River provide high quality adequate water supplies
   Eight municipal and three rural community water systems serve the County 
   Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC) operates a 22.5 mgd water plant
   Bethel, Farmville, Fountain, and Greenville have their own sewer treatment facilities while Ayden, Grifton, and Winterville are served by the Contentnea Metropolitan Sewerage District
   A 17.5 mgd wastewater treatment plant provides service to GUC customers
   Piedmont Natural Gas and GUC supply natural gas to the area 
   Progress Energy, Dominion Power, GUC, Pitt-Greene EMC, Edgecombe-Martin EMC and several municipalities distribute electric service to the County 
   Most power agencies offer discounted rates to large industrial customers

Five communities in Pitt County have excess water and wastewater (sewer) treatment capacity. Most systems are capable of treating industrial wastewater. Natural gas is available in sufficient quantities for process use in Ayden, Farmville, Winterville and Greenville; service could also be provided in the Grifton area for large users where use would justify the costs of extending nearby distribution or transmission lines. Electric service is distributed by Progress Energy Carolinas, Dominion Power, Edgecombe-Martin EMC, Pitt & Greene EMC, or the Greenville Utilities Commission, all of which operate highly efficient and reliable systems.

UTILITY SERVICE CONTACT INFORMATION

Ayden – provides electrical, water, and sewer service in-town and to some surrounding areas. 4144 West Ave., Ayden. (252) 746-7081. Director of public works and utilities: Robert Sutton.

Farmville – provides electrical, water, and sewer service in-town and to some surrounding areas. 3672 N. Main St., Farmville. (252) 753-3021.Director of utilities: Don Riddle.

Fountain – provides electrical, water, and sewer service in-town and to some surrounding areas.  P.O. Box 134, Fountain. (252) 749-2881. Director of public works: William Baker.  

Greenville Utilities Commission – provides electrical, water, sewer, and natural gas service to Greenville and surrounding communities in Pitt County.  401 S. Greene St, Greenville . (252) 752-7166.  General manager:  Ron Elks.

Grimesland – provides water and sewer service in-town and to some areas outside of town.  (252) 752-6337.  Public works director: Daniel K. Williams.

Grifton – provides water and sewer service in-town and to some areas outside of town.  437-B Creekshore Drive, Grifton. (252) 524-4081.   Public works director: Robert Williams.

Winterville – provides electrical, water, and sewer service in-town and to some surrounding areas.  P.O. Box 1459, Winterville.  (252) 756-2221.  Utilities director:  Mervin Taylor.

Edgecombe-Martin County EMC – provides electrical service to areas in northern Pitt County . (252) 823-2171. General Manager:  Bob McDuffie.

Pitt & Greene EMC – provides electrical service to areas of Pitt County near Farmville.  (252) 753-3128.  General manager:  Mark Suggs.

Eastern Pines Water Corporation – 5442 Eastern Pines Rd., Greenville.  (252) 752-7420.

Bell Arthur Water Corporation – 2474 Bell Arthur Rd., Greenville.  (252) 752-6252

Stokes Regional Water Corporation – 3607 NC 30, Stokes.  (252) 757-7751.

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WATER SYSTEMS AND SOURCES: Underground aquifers provide high quality water for the majority of public and private water systems in Pitt County, while surface streams (most notably the Tar River) provide an additional source of water, eliminating the need for massive water impoundments (lakes). Deep wells tapping these aquifers (primarily in the Black Creek Formation) are capable of producing between 400 and 1,000 gallons per minute. For more information on surface and ground water capabilities, refer to pertinent section under GEOGRAPHY.

Other unincorporated areas of Pitt County served by rural community water systems include: Bell Arthur, Eastern Pines, and Stokes.

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WASTEWATER DISPOSAL: In addition to communities that operate wastewater treatment plants having excess capacity, area rivers and soils are also capable of handling industrial wastewater. The Tar and Neuse Rivers (Contentnea Creek) have sufficient flows to receive treated wastewater (see GEOGRAPHY section for details). Pitt County soils are typically fine sandy loams capable of accepting high volumes of treated water from spray irrigation land application systems. The area's mild climate makes this type of wastewater discharge very cost-effective in many circumstances.

*Ayden, Grifton, and Winterville are served by the Contentnea Metropolitan Sewage District which operates and maintains over 15 miles of major collector and outfall sewer mains along the NC Hwy. 11 corridor from Grifton to Winterville, as well as the 2.0 mgd. CMSD Wastewater Treatment Plant located south of Grifton. The Treatment Plant can be expanded to 3.6 mgd.

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Natural Gas: There are two distributors of natural gas in Pitt County, serving the communities of Greenville/Winterville, Farmville, Ayden, Grifton, and the Pactolus/Grimesland area. There is a plentiful supply of gas through both systems with no anticipated shortages.

Piedmont Natural Gas (PNG) supplies natural gas to the County via a 4" high pressure (300+lbs.) transmission line which runs west-to-east through the central portion of the County (from Farmville through Greenville over to the Pactolus/Grimesland area). A 2" medium pressure (130+ lbs.) gas line serves the Grifton area. PNG also distributes gas in the Farmville area to residential and commercial customers.

Greenville Utilities Commission receives gas from PNG and distributes gas to Greenville, Winterville and Ayden.

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Greenville Utilities Commission

The Commission consists of eight board members appointed by the City Council; two board members are nominated by the Pitt County Board of Commissioners. All members are appointed to serve three-year staggered terms with a maximum of two consecutive terms. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman are elected by the Commission and serve one year terms. The Commission's primary responsibilities are to set and maintain competitive rates, approve development plans and the annual budget, and establish all operating and extension policies carried out by the General Manager.

The General Manager/CEO has the overall responsibility for all operations. He is assisted by the Assistant General Manager/COO and the Directors of Electric Systems, Water Resources, and Gas Systems. The Greenville Utilities System serves 58,300 electric customers and 75% of the Pitt County land area. Water customers number 30,829. Gas customers number 19,568. Most water and gas customers are located within the city limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction.

The General Manager is Ron Elks.  He may be reached at 401 S. Greene Street, Greenville, North Carolina, 27834 (telephone 252-752-7166), www.guc.com

Electricity

The GUC Electrical System serves over 60,200 customers in the greater Pitt County area. In order to distribute electricity to its customers, GUC owns and operates over 60 miles of high voltage transmission lines at 115 kV and 34.5 kV, as well as nearly 1000 miles of overhead distribution lines and 390 miles of underground distribution lines at 12.5 kV. In addition, the Electric Department operates 17 distribution substation sites with a combined base load capacity of 480 MVA, two subtransmission sites at a combined base load capacity of 50 MVA, and two 115 kV transmission substations with a combined base load capacity of 480 MVA.

GUC is a member of the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA) and participates in the purchase of electricity from generation facilities jointly owned by NCEMPA and Progress Energy. As the largest of the 32 cities participating in NCEMPA, Greenville holds an individual 16% interest in the facilities which provide base load power to the NCEMPA membership. The electricity purchased in FY 2007 by GUC represented 21.5% of NCEMPA's total load.

Rates: Retail rates are based on a true cost-of-service philosophy and each class of customer pays its own fair share. There are no tilt rates providing fictitiously low rates to one class at the expense of another. All industrial customers participate in GUC's Coincident Peak (CP) Rate Program.

Customer Mix: GUC has a broad base of customers with demand allocation of 40.4% residential, 7.7% small general service and 50.8% medium/large general service.  Such critical customers as WNCT-TV, Pitt County Memorial Hospital, and DSM Pharmaceuticals are provided with automatic transfer power should an emergency occur.

Load Management: In 1978, GUC was one of the first municipal utilities in the nation to implement load management (Beat-the-Peak) to control the demand component of its cost of power. Residential customers voluntarily allow GUC to install radio-controlled switches on their central air conditioning units, heat pumps, heat pump supplemental strips, electric furnaces, and water heaters. During periods of peak demand, these devices are cycled off to lower total demand, significantly reducing wholesale power costs. A portion of these savings is credited directly back to the participating customers; the remainder is reinvested and used to hold down overall electric rates. GUC currently has over 40,000 devices controlled.

As part of the Load Management program, GUC operates diesel-engine peak-shaving generators at 12 industrial and large customer sites. These units are used to reduce the electrical demand during coincident peaking periods. The host customers receive a credit each month equal to 20% of the demand savings accrued when the devices are operating. Additionally, the generators are available to supply limited standby power in the event of extended interruption of electric service. These efforts resulted in savings of $1.43 million in wholesale power costs in FY 2007 and the participating industries received credits of over $600,000.

As a supplemental tool in the operation of the load management system, as well as normal operations, the Electric Department has used a weather radar receiver system since 1987. The 24-hour weather radar system has proven a valuable tool in deciding when to begin load management operations. An additional benefit of the system is the ability to detect and track storm activity that poses a threat to the GUC service area. On the basis of information from the radar system, as well as from a lightning detection system, GUC is better able to initiate storm restoration activities and dispatch repair crews to areas likely to be most heavily damaged.  GUC's weather system is available to cable subscribers and can currently be seen on local cable channel 64.

Underground: GUC installed its first residential subdivision underground in 1965 and has provided underground electrical service to subdivisions, commercial developments and industrial complexes since that date. GUC has on hand a fully equipped trailer for rapidly locating and correcting underground problems should they occur.

System Control and Reliability: The Commission's transmission and distribution substations are monitored and controlled by state-of-the-art computer-based supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) equipment. System loading and equipment status is continuously monitored by this equipment with all disturbances and deviations from prescribed limits immediately reported to the Commission's dispatch control center for analysis. This facility is staffed twenty-four hours a day, providing the ultimate in customer service.

System reliability and availability is extremely high, particularly for the industrial sector. Most industrial customers are served by high-capacity dedicated distribution feeder circuits engineered for maximum service reliability. Redundancy of design is often characteristic of these facilities.

Staffing: Design and engineering for the 34.5 kV transmission and 12.47 kV distribution system is performed by GUC's own engineering staff; outside consultants provide engineering services for the 115 kV transmission and substation projects. Additionally, the department's line operations personnel perform most major construction, utilizing contract crews for short-term needs and major substation and transmission projects.

Contact: Roger G. Jones, Director of Electric Systems (252) 752-7166

Water Source & Treatment Distribution

The Water Treatment Plant (WTP), placed in service in January 1983 and upgraded in 2002, provides 97% of the drinking water for GUC customers with a limited amount of water supplied by deep wells.  Current capacity is 22.5 mgd. The deep wells bring the total water available on any one day to 24.5 mgd. Peak-day demand is approximately 11.9 mgd, thus leaving surplus capacity of 10.6 mgd.

Raw water for this plant is drawn from the Tar River. The raw water pump station has a rated pumping capacity of over 18 mgd and can be expanded. The minimum recorded flow in the Tar River at Greenville was 34 mgd. The Tar River has always provided more than adequate flows to meet all peak system demands.

Water is pumped from the river to an 8 acre, 63 million gallon impoundment basin where the water is kept for five days while solids settle to the bottom.  A coagulant is added to facilitate further settling of solids as the water enters the WTP.  The settled water receives ozone for primary disinfection.   The water then passes through filters, received chlorine and ammonia to form chloramines for secondary disinfection, and is pumped into two 3 million gallon ground storage tanks. Treated water enters the distribution system via 36 and 24 inch mains from the water plant.  Water is delivered to customers through more than 593 miles of piping ranging in size from two to thirty-six inches in diameter.

Storage: GUC has a two-tank system consisting of 1.5 million gallon and 1 million gallon tanks, providing increased water pressure. Total storage, including the two 3 million gallon ground storage tanks at the water treatment plant, currently amounts to 8.5 million gallons. Plans include the addition of two more 3.0 mg ground storage tanks in the next five years to increase water storage capacity.  GUC has also begun an Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project, the first of its kind in North Carolina.  ASR is the storing of treated drinking water in underground aquifers (sand deposits) during low system water demand periods and recovering or using the water during the high system demand periods.  This process allows GUC to store large volumes of treated drinking water for a fraction of the cost of storing water in above ground tanks.  The ASR system is expected to be placed in service sometime in the next year when the testing phase is completed.

Pressure: The average pressure throughout the GUC system is 70 psi. Minimum and maximum pressures, depending on location of the individual lines range from 40 psi in the southern area of the community to 70 psi in the industrial park.

Contact: Randy Emory, Director of Water Resources, (252) 752-7166

Sewer

Residual Management: In 2005, GUC completed construction of a dewatering facility to reduce the amount of water in the biological residue from the treatment process (biosolids).  The biosolids are transported to a private compost facility where they are mixed with organic fillers and processed to produce compost.

Contact: Randy Emory, Director of Water Resources, (252) 752-7166.

Natural Gas

The Greenville Utilities gas system includes 562 miles of natural gas mains and 956 miles of service lines, 18900 residential services, 1969 commercial, 15 firm industrial and 14 interruptible customers. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, Greenville Utilities sold 2,628,399 mcf of natural gas, 50% of which was to industrial/interruptible customers.

Greenville Utilities receives gas from Piedmont Natural Gas through three delivery points at a pressure of 55 psi. The western point of delivery feeds an eight inch line and a four inch line as does the Eastern Gate Station. A large diameter main connects the western feed point to the Industrial Area north of the river and an eight inch main provides an interconnection between the Southeastern Gate Station and the Industrial Area system.  The third feed is in the southwestern edge of the distribution system and ties into a six inch main. The central area of town is served by a low pressure system fed by seven regulator stations at a pressure of seven inches W.C. Natural gas is available to about 80% of the structures within the City. The BTU yield of GUC natural gas averages about 1,035 with a guaranteed minimum of 1,000.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Storage Facility: In 1997, GUC became the first public utility in North Carolina to construct a permanent LNG facility to meet peak demand. The LNG storage facility is located on Old Pactolus Road near GUC's Wastewater Treatment Plant. The facility consists of a control room building that houses 24-hour monitoring equipment, four 55,000 gallon storage tanks, and a vaporization unit. When the super chilled liquefied natural gas is vaporized, it provide up to 500 dekatherms per hour for GUC's gas system.

The satellite LNG facility increases the peak day capacity of the gas system to 24,000 dekatherms and provides another optional fuel source for industrial customers.  In addition, the LNG facility enhances gas system reliability by allowing personnel to maintain a minimum pressure of 20 pounds per square inch (psi) throughout the system during peak hourly flow rates.

Because of an increase in customer demand for natural gas, GUC recently completed an expansion of the LNG facility.  Four storage tanks, a generator, an upgraded control building, and a second vaporization unit was added.  The total LNG storage capacity of the facility is now approximately 27,000 dekatherms.

Contact: Anthony Miller, Director of Gas Systems, (252) 752-7166

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