Utilities Business Review: Specials Magazine

When the power stays on, communities grow stronger, businesses thrive, and families remain safe. But behind the flip of a switch lies a grid under immense strain. Aging infrastructure, rising demand, climate volatility, and growing regulatory scrutiny have converged to create a high-stakes challenge for utilities. In this environment, resilience means more than weathering storms or preventing wildfires—it’s about rethinking how to build, upgrade, and maintain the systems that keep power flowing safely and reliably every day. That’s where companies like Alvah Contracting, LLC step in as partners in rebuilding trust, modernizing infrastructure, and future-proofing the grid. The challenge isn’t just the size of the task, but its relentless nature. With aging systems in constant need of attention, utilities often find themselves restarting the upgrade cycle as soon as they finish it. Alvah addresses this reality with a self-performing model that covers nearly every aspect of the job—from trenching to final restoration. This end-to-end capability reduces delays and minimizes dependency on subcontractors. A certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and signatory to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Alvah brings decades of field experience combined with a proactive approach to safety and quality. The company specializes in large-scale, full-service electric utility projects, managing complex Master Service Agreements from planning through completion for investor-owned and municipal utilities. “We have a proven track record of delivering safe, high-quality work in both densely populated urban environments and remote rural areas. While other companies often avoid the complexities of big-city projects, we take pride in providing a true concept-to-restoration service to our clients,” says Jeremy Struble, Senior Director of Safety. The company serves Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), providing end-to-end utility infrastructure services. Alvah’s crews specialize in underground and overhead distribution, traffic control, and civil construction, including duct banks, directional drilling, and SCADA switch installation. A core part of its mission is system hardening—or fire hardening—which involves replacing traditional wood poles with fire-retardant-wrapped alternatives and moving overhead systems underground to minimize wildfire risks and outages. Just as important as the work Alvah does is how it builds its team. The company’s onboarding process spans a minimum of two days and includes an interview, skills and knowledge assessment, and hands-on training.

Since 1965, SDMyers has been an expert in maintaining transformer performance at the highest level to ensure reliable power systems and uninterrupted operations. Guided by its MaxLife^® philosophy, it emphasizes proactive care that helps clients prevent costly failures and double the lifespan of their assets. Part of Good Place Holdings, SDMyers functions on biblical principles, emphasizing stewardship and responsibility. Since its inception, it has pursued goals beyond conventional corporate objectives. The mission is to ensure that every interaction with customers, employees, vendors and competitors reflects genuine care and respect, creating an experience that rises above a standard business transaction. “We view ourselves not merely as a service provider but as a steward of our customers’ critical resources,” says Jon Bucciarelli, President. The driving force behind this mission is a deeper purpose of caring for people by ensuring the power systems they depend on are safe and resilient. Every service is designed to optimize performance and reduce downtime. Organizations of every size, from small facilities with just a few transformers to large-scale power producers, are supported across commercial, industrial and utility sectors. Maintenance and testing solutions span the entire transformer lifecycle, from inspection and diagnostics to preventative maintenance, repair and refurbishment. This comprehensive approach enables clients to manage their transformer fleets with confidence. Specialized services, such as moisture remediation, cooling system management and dielectric fluid processing, ensure transformers operate at peak performance. The capabilities of SDMyers traces back to its founder, Stanley D. Myers, who in the late 1950s built deep expertise in transformer maintenance and identified the critical role of oil condition in reliability. He invented the Re-refiner, the first piece of equipment to remove moisture, gas, acids and sludge from energized transformer oil and refined diagnostic sampling techniques to improve accuracy. Since then, SDMyers has exceeded expectations with benchmarks that are higher than the status quo. Simplifying Complex Power Management Underpinning the services is a nationwide team of more than 60 field inspection technicians dedicated to transformer care. They perform detailed field inspections and oil sampling, monitor trends and provide actionable insights that strengthen system reliability. The large number of annual inspections enables SDMyers to identify patterns, share best practices and anticipate potential issues across diverse applications. Field inspections, paired with ISO-accredited laboratory services, enable SDMyers to deliver accurate and repeatable results. The integrated expertise equips clients with the knowledge and strategic guidance to make informed decisions.