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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 11/17/2021 ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING November 17, 2021 – 5:30 pm Remote – Zoom ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Bill Becker, Jeremy Giovando, Alan Braslau, Steve Tenbrink, Dan Gould, Marge Moore Board Members Absent: John Fassler OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Christie Fredrickson, Adam Bromley, John Phelan, Cyril Vidergar, Kraig Bader, Council Member Tricia Canonico, Ginny Sawyer Members of the Public: MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Becker called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm PUBLIC COMMENT None APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the October 14, 2021, minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES None. CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES Ginny Sawyer, Senior Project Manager Tricia Canonico, City Council Member (attachments available upon request) There were 31 priorities that came through from City Council this year, and Staff assigned executive owners to each one. A first round of work was completed to see what work was already being done to move those priorities forward, and then staff went through the remaining items to segment out the work by quarter through 2023. The City’s ClearPoint software is being utilized to track progress, metrics, and budget on the priorities. Staff will complete updates every other month and use that information to generate reports. All of this information is posted on the Fort Collins website on the City Council page, including the adopted priorities (https://www.fcgov.com/council/files/adopted_council_priorities_and_milestones.pdf?1635443946), and the priority progress updates (https://www.fcgov.com/council/council-priorities/october-2021-council- priorities-update.pdf?1635541414). ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING The Board inquired about several priorities and their significance to City Council. Priority 13 is “Explore climate emergency messaging and action.” Mr. Phelan said the messaging around the Climate Emergency is how this item ultimately fell into the final list of Council priorities. He noted that Council recognizes a lot of ongoing efforts around the Climate Emergency (through the City’s Our Climate Future Plan), which is not to negate that work but to try and put the focus on new and necessary elements. This applies to much of the work City Staff is completing. The cadence for updating OCF has staff updating the Tactical Plan with a two-year focus (looking at 2023 and 2024) next year (2022). This aligns the update work with the City’s with budget years. Vice Chairperson Moore wondered if the new City Council has enthusiastically adopted the previous direction of the previous Council. Mr. Phelan said he believes so, he hasn’t seen anything that would indicate otherwise. The April 2022 Work session is a one-year check-in and the first chance to get some time with the new Council to discuss OCF and community climate goals. Priority 3 is “Advance transit initiatives that remove barriers.” Ms. Sawyer said this priority covers several items, including funding and fare study, as well as a Bus Rapid Transit system on West Elizabeth, and collaboration with Poudre School District around bussing needs within the community. Vice Chairperson Moore wondered if the City has access to the funding from the Infrastructure bill that was just signed into law. Ms. Sawyer said staff across the organization are very plugged into the dollars that will come from the bill, but she cannot speak specifically to transportation initiatives and charging stations as they relate to the funding. Board member Gould noted the City’s Transit Plan could potentially leverage funding for electric busses if the plan gets moving before those dollars are allocated. Priority 12 is “Districted system for garbage, recycling and compost,” and Priority 10 is “Accelerate composting - (Curbside and business).” Vice Chairperson Moore pointed to a (organic and non-organic) waste to energy study being conducted in South Carolina and wondered if something like that was accounted for in Council’s priorities. Councilmember Canonico said it’s not currently covered in these priorities, but it’s something she’s been personally thinking about a lot lately. She noted the community will not achieve what we are aiming for with only composting. Mr. Phelan reemphasized that while this list of priorities is very important to staff and helps to shape a lot of the work the City will complete, it is not representative of the entire body of work that the City does. If the Board notices something that is not encompassed in the priorities, it does not mean there is nothing that can be (or isn’t already being) done. Chairperson Becker wondered where City Council’s passion was in this process. He wondered if the Council is fairly in sync as a unit. Councilmember Canonico said they started with 99 priorities and have whittled their way down to the 31 the Board is seeing today. She said generally the Council is well aligned, though there are some edges; it seems like many of their votes settle 5-2 or or 6-1. Chairperson Becker asked staff if there is more the Energy Board can do to drive some of these priorities and projects forward. Ms. Sawyer encouraged the Board to familiarize themselves with the priority milestones and proactively reach out to staff to have update presentations. Then the Board will have an opportunity to provide real-time feedback. Councilmember Canonico noted the memo the Board recently sent about the proposed building codes was helpful and she hopes they will continue to utilize memos as a communication tool. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ELECTRIC MASTER METERING PRACTICES Kraig Bader, Director, Electrical Engineering, Light & Power (attachments available upon request) Master metering is defined as the use of a single device to measure the consumption of multiple tenants or housing units within a structure. It is distinguished from individual metering wherein consumption of each tenant or housing unit is measured separately. Electric master metering is not prohibited, but has some restrictions under: • Municipal Code 26 - 445 (2) Retail Sale of Electric Service • Declaration of master meter operator responsibilities in the State of Colorado • Municipal Code 26-464 (b) Residential Energy Service, Schedule R • Restriction on master metering for new or remodeled residential buildings unless authorized by Utilities Executive Director • Colorado Revised Statutes (C.R.S.) Section 40-1-103.5 • Defines the conditions and restrictions under which a master meter operator may use a master meter to measure consumption for multiple tenants or housing units in a structure. • Colorado Code of Regulations at § 4, C.C.R. 723-3 • Definitions and operational requirements for master meter operators Staff is proposing additions to the Electric Service Standards (8.8 Restrictions on Master Metering): “For the purposes in this document, a master meter is defined as one meter feeding multiple premises (occupancies) in the same building or complex of buildings. Mater Metering is not available for new or remodeled residential buildings with more than one (1) dwelling unit unless authorize by the Utilities Executive Director. Exceptions may include affordable or assisted living and other similar purposes. Contact Utilities Electric Project Engineering for a variance form.” These planned updates to the draft Electric Service Standards are intended to clarify the information already in Municipal code, broadly describe guidelines and examples where a variance might be granted where individual metering would be a hardship and identify a contact and process for obtaining a variance. Chairperson Becker noted the Board’s interest in this topic was sparked after there was a proposal to convert a hotel on Harmony Road to affordable housing units, but it sounds like there is a clear process to work through if that project were to go forward. He wondered if conservation is the main deterrent against electric master metering since individual dwellings wouldn’t be held responsible for their usage. Mr. Bader said that is one of the primary concerns, since a tenant may not have an understanding of their usage and therefor usage would not be a driver to limit consumption. APPROVE 2022 WORK PLAN Vice Chairperson Moore pointed out some of the function numbers have changed since last year and need to be realigned within the document. Board member Tenbrink moved to approve the 2022 Energy Board Work Plan with discussed changes. Board member Moore seconded the motion. Discussion: None. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Vote on the Motion: It passed unanimously 6-0, with one absent. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS There is a State-level bill (HB21-1286) pertaining to Building Energy and Water Scoring (BEWS) benchmarking. Mr. Phelan explained the State bill only covers buildings 50,000 square feet or larger, whereas the City’s BEWS 2022 program will be covering multifamily and commercial buildings 5,000 square feet or larger. The State bill will start with simple benchmarking (reporting), but bill did not specify how the building performance standard will work or look. The bill did recommend setting up a task force to develop recommendations for those performance standards. Kirk Longstein has been appointed to that task force. The City does have a benchmarking program for BEWS, but has not yet set up performance standards. Identifying those standards is part of the OCF’s Next Moves. Vice Chairperson Moore will send some information to staff about the Waste to Energy Project that she mentioned earlier in them meeting. Board member Tenbrink noted that the Monitor My Use website will be shut down toward the end of the year, but the new site has out-of-date data. Mr. Bromley said he will follow up with staff to see how the portal merges will line up. The intent is to sort out the portals but it is a casualty of the billing system challenges. Board member Gould said he recently saw a panel discussion from the Rocky Mounting Institute on retrofitting affordable housing with prefabricated siding and electric system upgrades to support all- electric HVAC, to reach near-passive house performance. The Utilities Executive Director’s position has closed, the posting received 62 applicants. Both Chairperson Becker and Vice Chairperson Moore do not wish to continue as Board Chair(s) next year do to their personal and professional commitments at this time. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW Officer Elections are slated for December, but those can be delayed until 2022 if it makes more sense. The Board will also have an update on BEWS code language, carbon inventories, and a transportation update. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 7:35 pm.