Frequently Asked Questions
Sterling is tied to Midwest Energy and the regional power grid through 34,500 kVa lines to the power plant sub-station. These lines run east along Washington, south on First Street, and then east on Garfield heading out of town. At the first mile-line intersection you’ll see where the main lines go north to Lyons and south and east towards Nickerson. We are generally fed from the Lyons sub-station, and can be fed through the Nickerson path, but not from both simultaneously. The simultaneous feed option was eliminated awhile back during some Midwest Energy system upgrades. When Midwest makes a decision to switch our supply from Lyons to Nickerson (and vice versa), we would generally see a one to two-minute outage while the switch is made. We have made a decision to run our units and carry the city load during those switch periods to avoid any power interruption to our customers. This happens several times a year, and our goal is for you not to notice the exchange of power.