At its latest commission meeting, Arkansas public power utility West Memphis Utilities shared several updates that highlight how it is delivering safer, stronger, and more reliable service for the community.
Topics covered at the meeting included:
• Safety first: No new injuries were reported, continuing a positive trend.
• Nearly fully staffed: Only two positions remain open—a milestone after years of staffing challenges
• Investing in growth: The utility is expanding its wastewater treatment plant from 6 million to 12 million gallons (with up to 20 million on peak days), preparing for new developments;
• Addressing issues and planning ahead: Planning is underway for a new substation near I-40 that will strengthen service in Northeast West Memphis. Water well repairs and upgrades are also in the works to secure future supply.
• Learning from challenges: After a recent outage and boil advisory, we’re now adding in-house water testing to respond faster in emergencies.
• Powering progress: West Memphis Utilities will provide the building power for Google’s upcoming data center, with Entergy powering the server operations.
Reliability
Another topic covered at the meeting was reliability.
Compared to statewide averages, WMU customers experience shorter outages, faster restorations, and fewer interruptions. Officials detailed how reliability numbers continue to set West Memphis Utilities apart from statewide averages.
Using industry-standard measures:
• SAIDI (outage duration): WMU: 66.7 minutes per year vs. Arkansas average of 991.2 minutes;
• CAIDI (restoration time): WMU: 114.4 minutes vs. Arkansas average of 433.4 minutes
• SAIFI (frequency of outages):
• WMU: 0.58 interruptions per year vs. Arkansas average of 2.1.
