Sam Houston Electric Cooperative was created in 1939 to bring electricity to East Texans by East Texans. We continue that mission today by undertaking new initiatives to improve the quality of service and build a resilient system between the tall pine trees.
Sam Houston Electric Cooperative was awarded the first agreement under the Texas Energy Fund (TxEF) Outside of ERCOT Grant Program (OEGP) with Sam Houston Electric Cooperative. The grant funds a project that will replace and upgrade nearly 10,000 electric poles in East Texas and strengthen other equipment to ensure electric reliability for more than 38,000 Texas consumers.
The project, named Steel Anchor, will replace 9,838 vulnerable wooden utility poles with stronger steel and ductile iron poles across portions of Montgomery, Liberty, and Hardin counties. The upgrades will improve the reliability and resilience of the electric distribution system in some of the most hurricane-prone areas of Sam Houston EC’s service territory.
“As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, Sam Houston EC is honored to receive this grant to reinforce our system on behalf of our consumer-members,” said Sam Houston EC CEO Doug Turk. “Over the past decade, Sam Houston EC has strategically replaced poles to improve the strength of its electricity distribution system. This grant will boost the Cooperative’s ongoing grid-hardening and resiliency program.”
The Steel Anchor project is expected to be completed by June 2031. More information about these programs is available on the PUCT’s website.
Co-op employees carefully monitor the capacity of the lines across the system. When an area of power lines is nearing its capacity, Sam Houston EC has two options—increase the diameter of the wires or complete a voltage conversion.
“Increasing the diameter of the wires means putting out brand-new lines, which is very costly,” said Kabe Murphy, grid manager. “Instead, in some areas, we are able to change the voltage, which costs less and is just as effective.”
The conversion to a higher voltage in an area is accompanied by a decrease in the current flowing through the lines, which, according to Murphy, helps extend the usable life span of the power lines in the area and improves the Co-op’s ability to redirect the flow of power to consumer-members during outages.
The nearly 20-mile Fred transmission line connects the Ivanhoe and Fred substations and improves reliability for members in Tyler County. This project provides greater control over how the area is served by the Co-op. It went into service in December 2025.
“This new connection brings greater reliability to this area,” Brown said. “With these facilities now in operation, the Co-op’s crews can monitor and manage the system directly, ensuring faster response times and fewer disruptions.”
The first four months of service have already resulted in 350,000 fewer outage minutes for members in that area compared to the same period the previous year.
Squirrels and birds are the common causes of outages. Metal brackets are flat, and squirrels use them as perches. Metal brackets are strategically replaced with brackets made of fiberglass tubes, reducing the number of outages caused by squirrels. Plastic covers are also added to the tops of transformers, further reducing outages.
Some poles are popular among woodpeckers, which can cause significant damage. Special sheets are wrapped around poles and attached with fiberglass pins.
Fault automation is one reason why members may experience a blink or brief outage at their home. However, this brief interruption is a sign that you could have experienced a much longer outage.
Fault automation isolates the fault, opens a feeder breaker, then restores power by closing at a normally open point to tie the two feeders together.
“A member still took an outage, but it was only for 10 seconds or a minute, not several hours,” said Merek Brister, engineer. “YFA gets the lights back on.”
The system prevents the Co-op from having to send line technicians to an outage to first assess the situation before any switching is done. The switching is done in seconds with the new system.
According to Assistant General Manager Ryan Brown, the YFA system reduced power outages by 39,000 hours through the first six months of 2026.
The Co-op initially started the YFA system on the outer edges of the service area. It was first implemented near Huntington, east of Lufkin in Angelina County. It is strategically deployed across the system following detailed analysis.