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HomeMy WebLinkAboutENERGY BOARD - MINUTES - 05/08/2025 ENERGY BOARD May 8, 2025 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave – Colorado Room ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Jason Hevelone, Natalie Montecino, Frederick Wegert, Wendell Stainsby, Brian Smith, Jeremy Giovando, Marge Moore (remote) Board Members Absent: Scott Canonico, Aleksander Thorstensen OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Christie Fredrickson, Brian Tholl (remote), Michael Authier, Yvette Lewis- Molock, Brad Smith, Kimberly Stein, Leland Keller Members of the Public: Stephanie Bednar, Halee Wahl, Steve Tenbrink, George Weston, Andrew Schwartz MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Smith called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES None. PUBLIC COMMENT Steve Tenbrink, former Energy Board member, said his church recently added new electrification measures (solar and heat pumps). The church began using more electricity which bumped them up to the next rate-class and their monthly bill cost doubled. The church’s 100 KW solar array helps, but the peak rate is overwhelming the organization. Mr. Tenbrink wondered what the City can do to make this less burdensome for people (or non-profit organizations such as theirs) who want to do the right thing but are unable to because of the current rate structure. George Weston is a retired registered professional electrical engineer, and former manager of Public Service Indiana, which became Synergy after his merger in the mid-1990s. Mr. Weston is a member of the same church as Mr. Tenbrink, but he is speaking tonight as an individual, not on behalf of the church. He believes that the design of rates E250 and E300 creates a disincentive for commercial customers to install solar electric systems. Stephanie Bednar said she represents Colorado Solar and Storage Association (COSSA), which is a state trade association representing nearly 300 solar and storage companies across Colorado. She explained that a number of their members (rooftop solar companies) have been concerned about a policy under consideration by Fort Collins Utilities that would prohibit the use of meter socket adapters in residential installations as it currently stands. COSSA believes this policy change could significantly hinder the adoption of rooftop solar in Fort Collins by driving up costs for homeowners. Andy Schwartz said he represents Tesla and is piggybacking on Ms. Bednar’s comments about meter socket adapters. He noted that the proposed configuration does not outright prohibit the use of meter socket adapters but does require them to be installed in a separate enclosure, which undermines the streamlining and affordability for residential customers (particularly in rewiring work). He also speculated that Fort Collins Utilities may be the first utility in the nation to backpedal on this technology. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the April 10, 2025, minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. BOARD MEMBER TRAINING Yvette Lewis-Molock, Assistant City Attorney II Ms. Lewis-Molock introduced herself to the Board, she is an Assistant City Attorney II in the City Attorney’s office, focusing on Utilities as well as PDT (Planning, Development and Transportation), primarily working with Light and Power, Broadband (Connexion), and small cells. City Attorneys provide support through contracts, leasing agreements, researching legal issues, legislation, and provide advocacy and advisement. Each Board & commission has a City Attorney assigned to them, and Ms. Lewis-Molock is assigned to Energy Board. Fort Collins is a home-rule city, which means under the Colorado Constitution, municipalities can adopt their own Charter which is approved by its voters. This reserves the full rights for self-government in local and municipal matters to its citizens, as long as the local laws don’t conflict with state laws on matters that the state legislature says have statewide importance. The Fort Collins charter was approved by voters back in 1954 and has been amended several times since. The City also relies on municipal code as another source of local law, laws enacted by City Council by ordinance. Both the City Charter and municipal code are available on the City Clerk’s website. Ms. Lewis-Molock explained that the Charter describes how City Council may establish boards and commissions, and it limits what Council and Boards can do (such as public meetings, public records, conflicts of interest, and that the City Charter describes limits on Council interference with administrative services.). The City Code clarifies, describes, and builds on these requirements, as well as establishes specific purposes and functions of each Board & Commission. The City assumes liability for, and will defend, its officers and its employees if they have a civil claim. The standard is that it has to be within your scope of work, which would be while serving as a City board member. Open meetings are defined as a gathering (or a quorum) of three or more members, whichever is fewer, of any Board or Commission (or committee of such), at which any public business is discussed, or formal action may be taken. Notice must be given to the public before holding a meeting (as defined above). Ms. Lewis-Molock noted that it’s important to keep in mind that meetings are not just in-person anymore, so this rule also applies to telephone/conference calls, chats or texts, virtual meetings, or emails. “FYI” style communications are okay, but she advised the board to refrain from conversing back and forth where other members are copied as this could be considered a board conversation that should happen at a public meeting where notice is provided. She also clarified that chance meetings and social gatherings where you are not discussing public business are exempt. Ms. Lewis-Molock explained that the City is subject to the state of Colorado’s Open Records Act (CORA), in which public records, like writings) that are maintained and kept within the ordinary course of business could be subject to public disclosure. Emails and texts discussing business about the Board or the Commission could be subject to public disclosure if the City were to receive a request. There are provisions in the City Charter and Code regarding conflicts of interest, including financial interests. A board member who has a conflict of interest cannot vote on the related issue or attempt to ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING influence the Board’s decision, so that board member would need to step back from the conversation or recuse themself. If there is a conflict of interest, board members must fill out a disclosure form which will be put on file with the City Clerk’s office. Ms. Lewis-Molock said she is always available to discuss potential conflicts of interest if there is any uncertainty. Officers and City employees cannot use confidential information for their own or others benefit or financial gain. Similarly, officers and employees cannot request special treatment or consideration given their position within the City. The Energy Board is considered an Advisory Board. These boards make recommendations to the City Council and City staff on areas of particular knowledge or expertise. Recommendations made by advisory boards are formal opinions to the City Council on items and subjects that are on the boards' approved workplans. These recommendations are limited to advisement and are not decisive actions. Ms. Lewis- Molock emphasized that if a Board member speaks publicly (for example, at City Council public comment), they must identify themselves as a Board member as well as the capacity in which they are speaking—personally or on behalf of the Board. If speaking on behalf of the Board, this must be previously agreed upon by the entire Board. 2024 IECC UPDATE Brad Smith, Sr. Project Manager The Performance Path to Zero Carbon New Construction by 2030 project is a building code for new construction that meets the desire of the community (as outlined in OCF). It is an innovative, transparent, and flexible approach to building, known as the performance path. The City is moving away from the traditional prescriptive path to building energy code, meaning mandating installation of a certain assembly or material, etc., and moving toward a modelling approach and that gives builders a lot of freedom. There will be established targets, but it is the builder’s decision on how those targets are achieved. This project is not a ban on gas, it is not a restrictive building code approach, and it is not part of Building Performance Standards (which focuses on existing buildings, not new buildings). The state of Colorado is a home-rule state, which means it has the authority to govern itself. This allows the City to adopt a building code that can be amended to align with the community’s climate goals. Mr. Smith noted that the State recently moved to a statewide minimum energy code, so any jurisdiction in the state that adopts a building code must adopt one of the three most current energy codes (as opposed to amending energy codes out of the larger code package). The International Code Council (ICC) publishes new code packages every three years. The City reviews each code package and strengthens the codes to help achieve the goals of the OCF plan. The last body of codes (2021) was adopted by City Council on April 15, 2022 (with local amendments) and staff is targeting late 2025 for the 2024 ICC code package. There are four code compliance paths available: Prescriptive, UA alternative, Performance, ERI (Residential)/ASHRAE 90.1 (Commercial). As Mr. Smith noted earlier, the performance path for new construction provides flexibility, transparency, real energy outcomes (kWh & therms). It aims to debias the code of fossil fuel by establishing energy use per square foot targets (moving away from an annual energy cost to energy use and CO2e targets, which is a carbon emissions target). Finally, the performance path encourages data-informed decision-making. Mr. Smith explained that the data that can be extracted from the energy models allows staff to verify later that the homes and buildings being built (after utility analysis is completed again), are actually aligned with the models. If the data shows otherwise, then the code can be adapted for the next code cycle. The Big Move 6 (Efficient, Emissions Free Buildings) outcome was developed/written with the community ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING and specifies, “everyone lives and works in healthy, energy and water efficient buildings which transition to become emissions free”. The three primary environmental goals OCF aims to achieve by 2030 are: reduce GHG emissions by 80% below 2005 levels, 100% renewable electricity, and zero waste and/or 100% landfill diversion. The next move is to develop an energy performance path for new construction to zero carbon building by 2030. Chairperson Smith asked if the prescriptive path is completely off the table? Mr. Smith said yes, for new construction (from the ground up) the prescriptive path will not be an option; however, it will still be available for renovations due to constraints that may exist within the original build. In Fort Collins, the definition of a zero-carbon new building or home means to be energy efficient, free of on-site GHG emissions from energy use, powered by 100% non-carbon energy, and have the ability to utilize demand response for electric grid resilience. Since these are not necessarily included in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) definition, Mr. Smith said the distinction is important for many of the programs that the City has, and certainly as the grid evolves in the next few years. In 2022, City staff were notified that the DOE had a funding opportunity for a Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation (RECI) grant. Staff pursued the opportunity and were awarded roughly $693,000 in 2023 to develop a methodology that establishes Energy Use Intensity (EUI) and CO2e code targets. Mr. Smith pointed out that utilizing the performance path is an administrative relief for the Building Services department, who will no longer have to figure out what compliance path builders are building to. He noted that often builders will move from one compliance path to another as things change throughout the building process, which can also change their approved building permit. When everything is modeled for performance, there is flexibility for builders which could result in reduced cost of construction. There have been some timeline setbacks with the change of federal administration at the beginning of the year, but staff is still hopeful that this project will be adopted by the end of the year so they can begin evaluating its effectiveness and adapting targets at the end of 2026. In development of the code targets the project team was able to look at BEWS data to understand the typical performance of current buildings, which provides an estimation of performance for most 2021 buildings. With that information, the project team had to determine how to set targets using: measured approach, modeled approach, and market research. All of those things combined allowed the team to establish targets for energy use and CO2e. After identifying and modeling the data, the team learned that most commercial buildings are going to have to improve by about 11% each code cycle. Mr. Smith noted that the code typically improves between 5-8%, so the builders don’t have to take a huge step (beyond code), but there will still be some effort required. Mr. Smith said the Board can help by continuing to stay informed and engaged, as well as by sharing within their networks. It would be great to encourage other community members to share thoughts through the zero-carbon code website (https://www.fcgov.com/zerocarboncode). The Board can also support Building Services and the code adoption by informing City Council through a memo or public comment. Mr. Smith also highlighted an upcoming event, FoCo EcoFest, which will be on June 14 at 10:00am in Washington Park. Board members wondered when this topic will go before City Council. Mr. Smith said the exact date is still up in the air, but it will likely be in August or September. He noted that he plans to bring the final draft of the code language to the Board once it’s written. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Board member Moore asked if there is someone Mr. Smith would recommend speaking to about a cost- to-value impact so she can share with her network. Mr. Smith said since this project is in partnership with the DOE, staff has access to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL), and staff has made a request to complete a cost-benefit analysis. He said it’s important to note that analysis and benefit can prove challenging because Fort Collins’ utility rates are so low, and rising utility rates over lifetime of ownership are typically not factored into these analyses. Energy code is also the only body of codes that pays for itself, because there is a reduction in utility use and therefore a reduction in cost. Board member Giovando commented that code cycles keep coming and cost of housing continues to rise regardless of what is happening in building code packages, it seems like that piece of the increase gets lost in the noise of the overall cost. Board member Hevelone said he’s considered adding solar to his home a few times, but the breakeven point is so far out, it becomes hard to justify. Board member Montecito said that $4-5k doesn’t seem like that big of an ask over the lifetime of homeownership, and Board member Moore clarified that the pushback often comes from the building community because of the work it takes to train and implement. Board members discussed how and when they may like to support this initiative, ultimately deciding to revisit it closer to the Council item (when it gets added to their agenda calendar). CITY COUNCIL PRIORITY 6 PREVIEW Brian Tholl, Energy Services Director City council identifies a set of council priorities at the beginning of each new council new term. The current City Council has 11 priorities, which are often viewed as a work plan. City Staff is bringing each Council priority to a work session council meeting to give them an opportunity for feedback. At next week’s Council work session, they will be focusing on Council Priority 6: “Reduce Climate and Air Pollution Through Best Practices, Emphasizing Electrification.” This priority has strategic alignment through OCF, City Plan, and the Strategic Plan. Staff wants Council to consider what questions they have about the elements underway in this Council Priority, and if the OCF approach aligns with Councilmember expectations for this priority area. Mr. Tholl said staff will be grounding the update in OCF’s Big Moves and Next Moves, many of which can be categorized as the transformational moves that the community identified as what they wanted to see in the plan related to sustainability. These are all rooted in equity, resilience and mitigation strategies. They will also touch on the plan’s high-level goals around reduction in emissions through electricity and waste. The community has made significant progress in the electricity emissions space, as well as the industrial process and product used emissions (also included in the community inventory). Mr. Tholl said natural gas and ground travel haven’t seen a ton of progress, but the City also doesn’t have too many levers to influence those. Staff does still expect to be on track to achieve the 2030 goal for the consumption-based 100% renewable electricity. The City also tracks the air quality index (AQI) with a goal of zero unhealthy AQI days. Mr. Tholl said whether or not that's an appropriate target could be something Council weighs in on. He noted this is all underscored by the fact that there is the 2023 voter approved tax (currently being operationalized) with staff trying to make progress towards major initiatives. The tax allows for $5,000,000 a year on average (in a normal tax year) to be collected and used for climate related initiatives. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING There are four areas of influence to drive community progress toward electrification and decarbonization: economic drivers, behavioral (education), regulation & policy, and infrastructure investments. In the economic and behavioral effort, staff is working to enhance incentive and educational initiatives for efficiency, electrification, and grid flexibility efforts. They are also evaluating the Utility’s rates and fees framework to eliminate barriers. In regulation & policy, staff is developing the Building Performance Standards (BPS) framework, as well as the zero carbon building code framework for new construction. In infrastructure investments, the Utility is making investments in Virtual Power Plant (VPP) efforts, as well as distribution planning enhancements. Staff is also putting effort into transportation and fleet changes, including supporting community education and awareness on electric transportation options. Additionally, they’re evaluating electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure in building code, and working to electrify the City’s fleet of vehicles and buses. Since air quality as a component of both the OCF goals as well as the Council priority, Mr. Tholl said staff is also addressing small engines, such as and essentially lawn equipment. This effort is focused largely on municipal operations and fleets, working to transition landscaping equipment from gas equipment to electric. This effort is supported by the 2050 tax and aids in compliance with state regulations as well. Mr. Tholl said Council has expressed a desire for staff to be active in seeking funds and to lead by example, putting municipal operations first, ahead of anything that would be rolled out to the community. For example, 30-35% of City buildings don't currently meet the proposed building performance standard, so staff is developing plans to get ahead of that, making sure to build trust with the community and show that it’s able to be done as a municipal organization. Mr. Tholl highlighted that this process is not without its challenges due to the nature of having long-term goals without always having long-term stability. The City’s budget process happens every two years, and election cycles on the opposing two years. This means funding allocations could change, or priorities could shift. In order to avoid pivoting strategies every couple of years, staff and the community created OCF to serve as an evergreen framework. Staff maintains perspective as the Utility pushes forward with making its infrastructure strong to support electrification, while also recognizing some of the tensions that exist within the business community right now, especially economically. Mr. Tholl highlighted the importance of being sensitive to the macro impacts some of these decisions and priorities will have on the community at large as we all move forward together. DISCUSS DRAFTING MEMO RE: LARGE METHANE USER FEE Board members discussed the Fort Collins Sustainability Group’s proposed Large Methane User Fee (LMUF), and if they would like to take some kind of action to bring it to City Council’s attention. The Board recently heard a high-level presentation from Staff about the proposal (though this is not a City-sanctioned project) and was able to spend a portion of their last work session considering different outcomes that a fee like this might produce. The Board also received a letter from the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce expressing their concern for businesses within the community, should such a fee be imposed, especially because the Fort Collins Sustainability Group did not reach out to the Chamber to get their feedback while putting together the ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING LMUF proposal. Board member Montecito moved for Board member Stainsby draft a memo to City Council about the community proposed Large Methane User Fee. Board member Hevelone seconded the motion. Additional Discussion: Board members discussed the implications of encouraging a LMUF or encouraging council to find ways to discourage methane usage more generically. The Board also felt it is important to include a short paragraph stating the importance of working collaboratively with the business community to come up with practical solutions. Vote on the Motion: It passed unanimously, 7-0, with two absent. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS None. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW The Board’s June meeting will have a couple of operational updates from staff, as well as an update from Mr. Tholl on the Council Priority 6 presentation. There will also be a mid-cycle budget update with more information on the 2050 Climate Tax. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 8:20 pm.