HAVANA, Fla. (WTXL) — Out with the old and in with the new.
Havana is receiving $250,000 in funding to upgrade its electrical substation. The electrical infrastructure has been providing the town of Havana’s power for 37 years. This funding is in hopes to never have to worry about power outages happening due to old age.
"It's very promising that it won't go from old age now. About six or seven months ago, it just went black, one of the re-closures have failed and that's what keeps the power flowing," said Timothy Loughmiller, mayor of Havana.
Loughmiller says this specific substation has been powering the town of Havana since 1986. Six months ago, the town was having trouble finding parts to fix the issue. "We ended up running one side of our electricity grid so at any moment we could have lost it permanently," Loughmiller explained.
In order for the substation to be repaired in past issues, the town would have to get custom made parts to get it back up and running. With this funding, they are wanting to get the technology to more modern times in order for the power to be more efficient and reliable.
"It powers about 1800 people in the town of Havana so it's about all the town limits its power," said Loughmiller.
Although the infrastructure is outdated, some people in the community who receives their power from the city have had good experiences. Ronald Burrell, who was born and raised in Havana, says that it's a good thing the town is receiving funding to make changes to the system.
"The service hasn't been bad, so to see that they are putting money towards upgrading, it is great," said Burrell.
Burrell says that when outages occur, the city is quick to restore power, with no issues. "Of course it is great, not just for me as a homeowner but for the kids and our schools and everything. It's good that they are improving the technology," Burrell expressed.
