ROCHELLE – The Rochelle City Council voted last Monday to bypass normal bidding rules to buy nearly $2 million in underground power cable for the Centerpoint substation and other utility work. Officials said skipping the formal bid process allows the city to lock in lower prices for copper before market costs change. The purchase includes more than 80,000 feet of various cable sizes to help move power lines underground and remove old poles near interstate highways.
“One of my biggest fears is a car getting tangled up in our lines because they fell in the interstate, that would be terrible. So I just like to get those buried, as many of those buried as we can with the cable we’re purchasing,” said Rochelle Electric Operations Superintendent Blake Toliver.
Rochelle was able to secure a price of $27.76 per foot for common cable that previously cost more than $40 per foot.
