Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutElectric Board - Minutes - 03/22/1995• 9 Minutes to be Approved by the Board at the April 15, 1995 Meeting. FORT COLLINS ELECTRIC BOARD MEETING MINUTES March 22, 1995, 5:00 - 7:30 p.m. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: John Allum, Bill Brayden, Jeff Eighmy, Mark Fidrych, Barbara Rutstein, Richard Smart, and Jim Welch BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Ellen Alward, Don Botteron, Al Boushee, Delynn Coldiron, Eric Dahlgren, John DeHaes, Ron King, Bob Kost, Jon McHugh, Tim Sagen, Rich Shannon and Dennis Sumner OTHERS PRESENT: Mike Dahl BOARD LIAISONS: Council Liaison -- Alan Apt Staff Liaison -- Don Botteron 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A Motion was made by Board Member Allum to approve the minutes. Board Member Eighmy seconded the Motion. The Motion passed unanimously and the minutes from the February 15, 1995 meeting were approved. 2. DISCUSSION ON DRAFT COMMUNITY BENEFITS RESOLUTION FOR COUNCIL: Rich facilitated discussion on the draft Resolution that was provided to Board Members. He mentioned that the Resolution covers three basic things: 1) It acknowledges the changing times; 2) It sets out the criteria that will be used to judge future success; and 3) It asks for permission for the Utility to change. Suggested changes included: First page, third WHEREAS, change "have included" to "includes." -1- - Add a new C. under the third WHEREAS on the first page: "C. Expert management of the public's interests with regard to the long-term energy needs of the City and its citizens." Change D. to "Responsiveness to local values. Examples include, but are not limited to:" Change the bullets under D. to reflect the value, as well as examples. First bullet under D., add a reference to hydro facilities. - In Section 1, under NOW, THEREFORE, change "reaffirms" to "affirms" and delete "current and." Change bullet a) under Section 1 to: "Competitively priced power for customers. " Change bullet b) under Section 1 to: "Reliable power supply from the cleanest sources feasible." Add as bullet c) under Section 1: "Leadership in the innovative delivery of energy services." Change bullet e) under Section to: "Competitive financial return to the City." Board Members discussed the issue of local control. There was some feeling that the Utility's ability to respond to local values because it is locally owned and operated, as well as low rates, are paramount. This is a real selling point for allowing L&P to continue doing business. The benefits realized by having a locally owned utility, are something that outside entities would not be able to provide to the Community. There was some discussion on the importance of maintaining the Utility as a public entity in this new competitive environment because when planning for the future, management in a public entity will make decisions that have the public's interest at heart. Decisions will not be based solely on "making a buck." There was a lot of discussion over local values. Board Members felt that the Utility should be acknowledged for its efforts to purchase clean power, as well as take some credit for its involvement in renewable energy, i.e., hydro power and experimentation with photovoltaics. There was some discussion on the need to reflect, in the Resolution, the additional flexibility that will be needed as we move from being only a commodity provider, to being a service provider, as well as a commodity provider. The magnitude of this type of change is still unclear, but the possibility that the Utility will be involved in a much expanded energy services role is a very real possibility. -2- Board Members discussed the idea of innovative leadership in the delivery of energy services. It was mentioned that there have been times in the past when City Council and respective boards have opted to stay ahead of whatever federal standards are in place, and adopt policies that go beyond the minimum standards. An example of innovative leadership for the Utility might involve telecommunications. This would be some sort of combination between telecommunications and energy services, where the Utility would seek out a partner in the telecommunications business, and turn homes into Smart Homes. In response to a question regarding barriers, Rich mentioned that he perceives there will be more resistance to change from the City organization than from Council. Light and Power is faced with a crisis that is precipitating change, but this change may be viewed by other City departments as "stirring up the waters." The positive side of this is that other City departments may choose to apply some of the things found in this Resolution and modify their business approach. A Motion was made by Board Member Welch to endorse the Resolution as amended. Board Member Rutstein seconded the Motion. The Motion passed unanimously. Staff will modify the Resolution in accordance with suggested changes, and forward to Council. An Agenda Item Summary and copies of the minutes from the February meeting and this meeting, will also be forwarded to Council to give then some insight from the discussions that have been held on this issue. DISCUSSION ON TWO POSSIBLE CITIZEN APPEALS: Don mentioned that we have received a Request for Hearing from a customer who is requesting a deviation from current streetlighting standards. This will be scheduled as the first agenda item for the April meeting. A copy of the customer's Request for Hearing form, together with related City policies, will be included in next month's Board packets. There is also some potential we will be receiving a Request for Hearing from the Affordable Housing Task Force Board. Don and Gwyn Strand were invited to an Affordable Housing Task Force Board meeting to explain the basis of turn on/turn off charges. Their Board Members were not satisfied that these charges are being assessed properly and did not feel that these charges are fair to those who need affordable housing assistance. This Board forwarded a memo to Council requesting special consideration for those who need affordable housing assistance. Don mentioned that this is a problem because of the issue of cross -subsidization. In order to diffuse the appeal, and in an attempt to come up with a win/win situation, staff will be meeting to try to identify some alternative levels of service that will satisfy their needs, that we can charge less for. This is an opportunity to "test the waters" in the new competitive arena of unbundling services to provide our customers with the higher level of service they require. Staff plans to share the proposal that is developed at the April Board meeting. Once an endorsement is received from the Board, the proposal will be shared with the Affordable Housing Task Force Board and City Council. =0 4. STAFF REPORTS: A. Industrial Audits: Dennis mentioned that staff has been in touch with the Industrial Assessment Center at CSU about doing some industrial audits for us. Staff would like to move forward with pilot testing this. We have five pilot tests arranged, targeting our larger customers. A comprehensive evaluation of their energy use will be done, and energy saving options will be suggested. The cost of the audits is $4,500 each. This program is right in line with the C/I emphasis. Advantages of this program include: 1) It gives us a way to leverage our staff; 2) It permits us to add a value- added service to our customers; 3) It gives us a quick way to gather meaningful data; and 4) It gives us a targeted use for CLIP funds. There was some concern that using students might slightly undervalue our efforts. Jon mentioned that the people who will be involved from CSU are very technically capable and he explained that a City employee (probably Jon) will also be attending the audits. There is a lot of spreadsheet work, reading name plates, and other technician -type tasks, that the students can do, which would not be cost effective for Jon to do. The balance of having the technical expertise, and having fairly low cost people to gather other pieces of information, provides a nice partnership between the City and CSU. B. Lost Opportunities -- Code Efforts Dennis mentioned that there will be an Environmentally Sustainable Architecture Workshop on April 7th and 8th, in Fort Collins. Doug Swartz will be speaking on issues relevant to residential housing during the first day of this workshop. Jon mentioned that the first day will be a broad overview of the subject, and the second day will be targeted more towards actual architecture. Staff will be promoting this to the local architecture community and will offer to pay 1/2 of the price of the registration to encourage them to attend. Light and Power will pay the full price of registration for any Board Members interested in attending. C. Peak Clipping Efforts Dennis mentioned that there seemed to be some confusion surrounding the peak clipping discussion from the February meeting. Jon clarified various forms of DSM including strategic conservation, peak clipping, valley filling, strategic load growth, load shifting, and flexible load shape. Jon identified five benefits realized by the Utility, the Community, and the customer, when they utilize their generator during times when our system peaks: 1) Saves customers money; 2) The City as a whole benefits; 3) The overall cost ac per kW hour is reduced for the customer, and also for the Utility, which makes us more competitive; 4) No environmental impact; and 5) Reduces the need to build additional capacity. There was some discussion on this issue. Peak clipping may be a good option for those customers who already have generators that need to be turned on for a certain number of hours per year. However, recommending that other customers purchase a generator to cut their peak, would not typically be a wise economic choice. Purchasing a generator based on the combined objectives of improving reliability, and reducing electric peak costs, may make economic sense for given customers. 5. INFORMATIONAL REQUESTS: None. 6. OTHER BUSINESS: A. Rich briefly outlined two conferences that are coming up: 1. APPA Policy Makers Workshop scheduled for April 20-22, 1995, in Scottsdale, Arizona. 2. APPA Annual Conference scheduled for June 26-28, 1995, in Seattle, Washington. Board Members should contact staff if interested in receiving additional information on this. B. Tim Sagen mentioned that there is an RMEL Conference scheduled for May 7, 8 and 9. A number of good speakers dealing with deregulation will be giving presentations on the 8th. Conference brochures will be forwarded to Board Members. C. Rich and Jon provided a brief update from the marketing sessions that were hosted by Platte River Power Authority. ITT Customer Appeal Affordable Housing Proposal ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 7:22 p.m. Delyn Coldiron, Board Secretary -5-