HomeMy WebLinkAboutElectric Board - Minutes - 10/15/2008Fort Collins Utilities Electric Board Minutes
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Electric Board Chairperson City Council Liaison
John Morris, 377-8221 Wade Troxell, 219-8940
Electric Board Vice Chairperson Staff Liaison
Dan Bihn, 218-1962 Robin Pierce, 221-6702
Roll Call
Board Present
Chairperson John Morris, Vice Chairperson Dan Bihn, Board Members Tom Barnish and
Steve Wolley
Board Absent
Board Members John Graham, John Harris and Jeff Lebesch
Staff Present
Brian Janonis, Steve Catanach, Tom Rock, Kraig Bader, John Phelan, Patty Bigner, Bob
Hover, Lucinda Smith, Robin Pierce and Meagan Peil
Guests
Rick Coen, Bevan Noack, Eric Sutherland and Stephen Yurash
Meeting Convened
Chairperson John Morris called the meeting to order at 5:33 p.m.
Approval of September 17, 2008, Minutes
Vice Chairperson Bihn motioned to approve the minutes from the September 17, 2008,
meeting. Board Member Wolley seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Public Comment
Eric Sutherland requested the Board give consideration to the importance of providing
City Council with financial framework and planning data for approval items. Mr.
Sutherland cited two recent examples of such items, the draft Energy Policy and 2009
rate increase request.
Climate Action Plan Update
Senior Environmental Planner Lucinda Smith provided an update on the development of
the Climate Action Plan. It will be brought to Council at the October 28 work session.
The Climate Task Force recommended 16 short-term strategies, and the draft Climate
Action Plan retains most of the strategies. It also incorporates concepts from the draft
Energy Policy, such as advanced metering infrastructure. The goal to achieve 15%
renewable energy by 2011 was removed from the Plan in response to input from various
Boards for more emphasis on carbon reduction and energy efficiency, and the focus has
changed from the 2012 to the 2020 goal. The Plan will achieve 268,000-378,000
tons/year reduction in 2012, 1.2 million tons/year in 2020 and complies with the State's
Renewable Portfolio Standard.
Council expressed interest in focusing more efforts on green building. Support continues
for pursuing "above (building) code" initiatives and assessing the Time of Sale Energy
Conservation Ordinance. The green building roadmap requires green building as a
prerequisite in order for projects to receive public financing.
The Plan supports the local economy through growth of the existing Climate Wise
Program. It aligns with the Governor's Energy Office (GEO) on the Colorado Carbon
Fund in lieu of a local carbon offset program. The GEO program will enable the
reinvestment of some offset revenues to return to our community and be used to
implement projects. Diversifying energy supply, and reducing vulnerability to energy
price increases and volatility were noted as other important Plan benefits.
Monitoring and reporting will occur annually through emissions inventory and biennially
through budget cycle reviews with planned milestones. The Plan provides a framework
for moving forward on climate protection activities, while providing flexibility for
Council to make decisions at incremental points and determine implementation priorities
within the context of evolving City budget and policy priorities, carbon markets and
technology opportunities.
Public outreach will be conducted through November, including a public open house on
November 12. Council considers adoption of the Climate Action Plan on December 2.
Questions from the Board:
Where would progress be by 2012 without the proposed rate increases?
The Plan does not contain this information, but if Council adopts the new Energy Policy,
it would be followed by the development of an implementation plan which would contain
estimated results of different rate options. Utilities staff expects to have an
implementation plan ready for Council to study in the January to February, 2009, time
frame. Council will be asked to pass a resolution approving the intent and general
direction rather than an ordinance to adopt the Plan. There is no budget associated with
the Plan at this time. However, some modeled costs per year are in the Plan.
Is it unusual for both the Energy Policy and Climate Action Plan to evolve at the same
time?
It presents a challenge for the Climate Action Plan as it is preceding more detailed
strategy development on many fronts. With the mid -level approach of the Plan, it affords
the opportunity to fold in plans from other areas around the City and the Energy Policy
when those become available.
Board Member Wolley served on the Climate Task Force and stated the task force
recommendations included costs per ton and, if a specific recommendation required
funding from a rate increase, estimates were provided for Council. Ms. Smith noted
estimated impacts to customers will be included in the agenda item materials.
Board Member Barnish noted the positive effect lifestyle changes and education may
have on the carbon emission goals. Ms. Smith noted a community climate challenge is
incorporated in the Climate Action Plan. Economic conditions also provide motivation
for consumers to reduce energy use.
2009 Work Plan
Chairperson Morris led a discussion to prepare the Board's 2009 Work Plan.
1) Electric Energy Supply:
• All reserve policies are under review by the City Finance Director and will go
to Council Finance Committee in November.
• Staff will clarify the Purchase Power Reserve Policy at a future meeting this
year.
■ Board members and staff discussed the concept of an energy board.
■ Under the Energy Policy strategic implementation plan, the work plan will
reflect review of the four Policy goals. Board members also discussed adding
the following themes to the work plan:
- A separate item for small, local initiatives, such as parallel generation;
- A mechanism for incentivizing private entities to develop renewable
projects in the community;
- Opportunities to partner with Colorado State University;
- The policy shift from renewable to carbon resources; and
- Economic vitality.
2) Conservation and Public Education:
■ Community dialogue opportunities around energy, carbon and impacts;
• Progress reports on the Utility's website;
• Presentation on the Key Accounts Business Plan and a partnership report on
the City of Fort Collins;
■ Additional time and focus on public outreach reporting;
■ Customer satisfaction survey by R.W. Beck in 2009 with more reporting
on the methods used to share information with customers; and
■ Better understanding of our business, including successes and challenges.
3) Legislative and Finance:
■ Budget update in Fall, 2009, for the 2010-2011 budget cycle;
■ A series of dynamic discussions about philosophies behind the goals and the
rate structures; and
• Monthly updates from the Governor's Energy Office website.
4) Liaison:
• A joint annual update from the utility directors of our Platte River Power
Authority (PRPA) partners;
■ Alternatives to meeting with the Water Board, such as inviting water
resources and water conservation staff to speak to the Board;
■ Significant linkage in the future between power and water in the West; and
• Compare notes and unify messages between the Boards on promotion of
conservation.
Light and Power Operations Manager Steve Catanach suggested an Engineering,
Distribution and Operations section on the work plan to provide an approval and
reporting mechanism. Examples of updates would include the FortZED/Department of
Energy project, automated metering project, construction updates, and system status
reports for significant outages or events. Utilities falls under the new privacy and identity
theft legislation, and is charged with developing a plan for securing our informational
databases and protecting customers from identity theft. The plan calls for Board review,
likely in December or January. Also, the load management program (formerly the Hot
Shot Program) is a developing program and is part of a critical foundation. Utilities
Executive Director Brian Janonis would like to add a general item to encompass updates
on security and facility safety to the work plan.
Chairperson Morris will forward the draft 2009 Work Plan to members for review. The
schedule will be finalized in December or January with staff input.
Draft Energy Policy
Customer and Employee Relations Manager Patty Bigner spoke about the Department of
Local Affairs (DOLA) grant for new energy communities under Governor Ritter's new
energy economy initiative. Grant monies are used to fund public buildings with three
components: greening public facilities, homes and downtown areas. The City submitted a
joint application with Larimer County and the Fort Collins Housing Authority. Of the
$1.2 million requested, nearly $800,000 was awarded.
Minor changes to the Draft Energy Policy include:
■ Wording of the vision was changed to include "affordable".
• The section on smart grid was expanded to provide more details.
■ A few points with PRPA were removed, and Goal #4 was added to
maintain Fort Collins Utility's collaborative relationship with PRPA with
three objectives.
• Specific criteria were added to the reporting and policy update.
A public open house is scheduled for November 17 at the Lincoln Center. Information
provided will include a background on Utilities and linkage between the Energy Policy
and climate goals. Staff will be on hand to share about education programs in the schools,
efficiency and renewable programs, and our distribution system reliability.
Staff is working on the implementation plan and expect to return to Council with
recommended programs to be implemented, schedule, budget and rate impacts. Public
process will be connected to adoption of any rate ordinance associated with the Policy.
Chairperson Morris will write a letter in support of the draft Energy Policy for vote
by the Board at next month's meeting.
Net Metering Structure
Mr. Catanach reported on net metering, currently in place as part of the solar pilot
program. The State Legislature passed House Bill 1160 earlier this year requiring net
metering across the State including municipalities with over 5,000 customers and all rural
electric associations (REAs). The bill was designed to create a consistent net metering
environment statewide and set recommended thresholds at IOkw for residential customers
and 25kw for commercial customers. The Public Utilities Commission rules apply to
investor -owned utilities and have a 2 megawatt cap. It also requires municipalities to post
and adopt small generator interconnection standards. Net metering is only required for
eligible energy resources, which must be customer owned, and does not apply to third
party installations. Compensation occurs at a retail rate as an offset for the energy
generated, and credit can be applied and carried forward on an annual basis. Excess
energy is then purchased.
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A philosophical question must be answered as to whether it is fair for the rest of our
customers to reimburse the generating customer who is due money back from generating
more energy than the customer used. According to Tariff #3, generation over 50kw must
be reported to PRPA. The City would have the latitude to adopt net metering up to a one
megawatt level.
Board Member Barnish favors credit for avoided losses in the system. If overhead,
functional and maintenance costs can be separated from system costs (included), it could
make this more equitable without causing detriment to other customers.
Vice Chairperson Bihn noted a possible connection to our strategy in meeting Energy
Policy goals.
Mr. 7anonis added a customer who installs net metering is still entitled to sell their
renewable energy credits (RECs). Literature is not clear whether it's considered a REC
purchase if the City pays an incentive for the solar installation. Attorneys are studying
this issue for right of first refusal to purchase such RECs.
Mr. Catanach is seeking guidance from the Board on net metering generation thresholds,
levels at which we should purchase energy, and purchase price for annual excess energy.
Discussion will take place at the next meeting.
Routine Updates
PRPA (Vice Chairperson Bihn): Some projects are delayed until credit markets improve.
Capitol News (Board Member Wolley): No report.
Future Agenda Items
• Climate Action Plan
• Draft Energy Policy
2009 Work Plan
• Net Metering Discussion
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:14 p.m. following a motion to adjourn by Vice
Chairperson Bihn.
Submitted by Robin Pierce, Executive Administrative Assistant
Fort Collins Utilities
Approved by the Board on /l.i &A / 1 2008
Signed
I'n �Pi :y1c ce i I Zo 0�
Robin Pierce Date