Our History

1979 - Present

 

            In 1979, Southwestern Public Service (SPS) experienced the collapse of Cooling Tower #1 at the Jones Generating Station.  At that time, the decision was made to replace the tower using in-house personnel.  Prior to being rebuilt, the tower underwent a complete redesign.  The old tower, a 146,000 gpm eleven-cell structure, was replaced with a nine-cell cooling tower utilizing a hybrid of film and splash fill.  Using the existing basin, total execution time from the decision to proceed, using our own personnel, to mechanical completion of the tower was 124 days.  Tests of the completed tower showed that the new design provided an increase of approximately 10% cooling capacity.  The results of this test gave tangible proof that SPS had the expertise to fabricate and erect a complete cooling tower and to manage the project execution in minimal time.

            Formed in the mid-1970’s, Utility Services was the Fabrication Shop for SPS: fabricating cross arms, cooling tower components, electrical panels, and miscellaneous wood and metal products.  The cooling towers for SPS’ Harrington and Tolk Stations were fully fabricated at Utility Services.  Upon the formation of Utility Engineering Corporation (UE) from the SPS Plant Design Department in 1986, Utility Services became a division of UE and continued to supply cooling tower erection, fabrication, and reconstruction services for SPS, as well as for customers not affiliated with SPS.  Universal Utility Services became a wholly-owned subsidiary of UE in 1994 and has expanded our services to include a wide range of industrial-related maintenance capabilities. Universal Utility Services, LLC (UUS) has operations located in:

  • Amarillo, TX.
  • Lubbock, TX.
  • Midland, TX.
  • Denver, CO.

UUS services all of the cooling towers for SPS and PSCo (16 generating stations).  UUS provides additional services in industrial maintenance including: cooling tower material sales, painting, coatings, sandblasting and hydro-blasting, baghouse maintenance, substation and transformer maintenance, relay testing and maintenance, Piping rehabilitation services, vegetation management, and other general industrial maintenance activities.

OUR CUSTOMERS

Southwestern Public Service

  • Harrington Station
  • Nichols Station
  • Moore County Station
  • Plant X
  • Tolk Station
  • Jones Station
  • Cunningham Station
  • Maddox Station
  • Riverview

Public Service of Colorado

  • Comanche Station
  • Cherokee Station
  • Arapahoe Station
  • Pawnee Station
  • Hayden Station
  • Fort St. Vrain Station
  • Zuni

Northern States Power

  • Pathfinder Station

Non-Affliated

  • Public Service of New Mexico
  • Oklahoma Gas & Electric
  • Dominion Energy
  • Duke Energy
  • Power Resources, LTD
  • Navajo Refining
  • Hoechst Celanese Chemical
  • Western Farmers Electric Co-op
  • TXU Electric
  • West Texas Utilities
  • Phillips Petroleum
  • Agrium, Inc.
  • Engineered Carbons
  • GPM Corporation
  • Texas-New Mexico Power
  • AEP
  • Baptist/St. Anthony’s Hospital
  • Seaboard Farms
  • Crouse-Hinds
  • Texas Cattle Feeders Association (100+ Feedyards)
  • Texas Cotton Ginners Association
  • Dairy Farmers of America
  • Huntsman Polymers
  • Texas Independent Energy
  • Oxy Permian
  • Southwest Canners
  • Mirant Energy
  • Enron
  • Caprock Electric Co-op

Cooling Towers

Miscellaneous Services

Substation/Hi-Voltage Maintenance

Budget preparation assistance

Wood & metal fabrication

Transformer testing & repair

Inspection, testing, & analysis

Sandblasting & painting/coating

Customized maintenance programs

Thermal upgrades Hydro-blasting Oil analysis
Structural repairs Baghouse maintenance General maintenance
New tower design, fabrication, & construction Vegetation management Relay testing and maintenance
Parts &supplies (OEM) General Labor  Hot Oil & Vacuum treating
Fiberglass repairs Piping Rehabilitation  Doble testing
Customized maintenance programs    Line Recloser maintenance

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

  • We are growing. We currently have many active projects in the southwestern region for many affiliated and non- affiliated customers.
  • We have a tremendous geographic presence with offices currently in Amarillo, Texas,  Denver, Colorado,  and Lubbock, Texas.  Crews can be mobilized quickly for immediate response to the customer's needs.
  • We have very competitive pricing agreements with most market material suppliers.
  • We are expanding our services and expertise to be the customer's provider of choice, offering most services in-house
  • We maintain a significant on-hand inventory to provide for emergency response.

 

Our attitude has always been “quality first,” and we are continually looking at opportunities to increase our efficiencies and cost-savings for our customers.