Black Hills begins construction on operations center in Siloam Springs
by June 6, 2019 10:09 am 1,608 views
Black Hills Energy, a utility of Rapid City, S.D.-based Black Hills Corp., broke ground Wednesday (June 5) on a 10,000-square-foot operations center in Siloam Springs, according to a news release.
Black Hills Energy employees serving the Siloam Springs area will relocate into the building at 2550 N. Country Club Road after construction is completed in early 2020. The new building will be used to store equipment and serve as a warehouse for employees who serve the utility’s more than 9,500 natural gas customers in Siloam Springs, Gentry, Decatur, Gravette, Sulphur Springs, Hiwasse, Highfill and Springtown. The employees will move into the new building from a leased building at 883 S. Dogwood St.
About 15 employees will work at the new facility when it opens.
“We’re committed to Northwest Arkansas, and we’ve demonstrated that through our continued infrastructure investments across the region,” said Chad Kinsley, director of natural gas operations for Black Hills Energy. “Owning a building allows us to better control costs and demonstrates our commitment to efficiently serving the needs of our customers in the Siloam Springs area and across Northwest Arkansas.”
Benchmark Construction is the contractor for the new building.
On Oct. 5, Black Hills Energy received approval from the Arkansas Public Service Commission for new rates to recover more than $160 million of investments to replace, upgrade and maintain more than 5,500 miles of natural gas pipelines in Arkansas. Black Hills started to provide service in Arkansas in February 2016 after it acquired SourceGas Holdings LLC for nearly $2 billion in cash and debt. The utility provides natural gas and electricity to 1.27 million customers in eight states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.