News Release

Huntsville Utilities Statement - Hampton Cove Power Line Issue

September 6, 2007

Over the past weekend, a large number of flyers were distributed in the Hampton Cove community expressing opposition to the construction of a power line to provide service to the Hampton Cove and Big Cove substations. There were a number of facts within the flyer that were incorrect.

Here are the facts:

Huntsville Utilities is constructing a transmission power line from the Hampton Cove substation located on the Eastern Bypass to connect with an existing line near Little Cove Road.

This line will allow Huntsville Utilities to make a tie between the Hampton Cove substation and the Gurley/TVA delivery substation. This will give Huntsville Utilities an alternate feed to the Hampton Cove substation in the event of a problem with the main feed to the station. Basically, this provides a backup for the Hampton Cove Substation.

The line will run from the Hampton Cove substation towards the new McMullen Cove development area. This line is designed to provide service to the Hampton Cove substation, not for service to the McMullen Cove development. The McMullen Cove development will be served by another substation.

Huntsville Utilities worked with the City of Huntsville to determine the best and most feasible route for the new electric lines in the area of Hampton Cove and McMullen Cove. After meeting with the City Planning staff, it was explained that we were not going to be able to use the road right of way along the Eastern Bypass to install these lines.

Without using the road right of way, the only viable alternative was to use property to the east of the developments of Twelve Stones, Flint Mill, and Cobblestone Cove. Huntsville Utilities negotiated with the property owner for right to access this property and utilize the area as an easement. Huntsville Utilities purchased the right of way for this property for the installation of the electric lines and a natural gas line.

Huntsville Utilities worked closely with the property owner’s representative to determine the location of the line. The property owner did not want the line to go through the fields so it has been located close to the property line. There are sections with existing homes where the line will be off the property line with trees between the houses and the power line. The majority of this section of the line is not within the city limits.

There is a section along a lake owned by the property owner who granted Huntsville Utilities the easement. The sections that are along the lake will be at the property line. Most of these lots do not have houses on them at this time. From our maps, it appears there are about nine houses presently that will be next to the line and approximately twenty vacant lots. If we built the line along the Eastern Bypass there would be about fifty houses affected.

A total of 64 concrete utility poles will be installed. Similar poles are already in place along the western end of the Eastern Bypass in Hampton Cove. The distance of the project is fourteen thousand five hundred and ninety-five feet (14,595). The cost of this project is estimated at $515,357 or $35.31 per foot.

An option following the same route of the easement and placing the lines underground is cost prohibitive. The cost estimate for that is $8,757,000 or $600 per foot.

There were no other viable alternatives to this layout since the constraint placed on the location by the City and the property owner that granted the easement. The construction of this line is essential for Huntsville Utilities to be able to provide reliable electric service to this growing residential area.

We continue to communicate with members of the Hampton Cove Homeowners Association and the developers of property adjacent to the power line to answer their questions concerning this project.