EL PASO - If your power went out during the big freeze in February, maybe you've been wanting somebody to blame. Well, any answers have been pushed back at least another month.
"The water company in particular and the electric company have asked the city to become involved and kind of head up the investigation effort," said city engineer Alan Shubert. He says the El Paso Chapter of the Council of Engineering Companies, or the CEC, volunteered to investigate the freeze. But they've hit a legal snag; because they're not an actual firm, what they find can't be used as evidence.
"When an engineer produces a report, they need to seal it, with their seal that says this is done by a licensed professional engineer," Shubert said.
The CEC has pulled out, so now Shubert has to find an out-of-town engineering consultant to take over.
"Our goal is to have this done in a 60 to 90 day time frame, not a 6 month or year time frame, but we haven't nailed it down," he said.
But while you're waiting for answers, the El Paso Water Utilities is celebrating big increases in revenue.
"We came out with higher than expected revenues and lower than expected expenditures," said chief financial officer Marcela Navarrete. Those gains and savings add up to an extra $10 million in the Water Utilities' pocket. That means no rate increases for the time being. But what about investing in equipment in case El Paso freezes over again?
"Do we spend $200 million for something that happens once every 100 years?" asked Navarrete.
One Public Service Board member says: yes.
"I cant predict when the next catastrophe will be, I know that someday there will be another catastrophe," said Richard Bonart. He, like many El Pasoans, would've liked to see this report sooner rather than later.
"I think I would've liked to see things move a little faster, I think we got started going the wrong way at first," he said.
An extra cost for hiring that engineering consultant hasn't yet been negotiated. But the water utility will share that cost with the electric company.
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