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HomeMy WebLinkAboutElectric Board - Minutes - 01/07/2009Fort Collins Utilities Electric Board Minutes Wednesday, January 7, 2009 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 Steven Wolley, John Harris, Steve Yurash and Tom Barnish Board Absent Board Member John Graham Staff Present Patty Bigner, Brian Janonis, Steve Catanach, Meagan Peil, Robin Pierce, Tom Rock, Terri Bryant, Kraig Bader, Scott Dahlgren, Jenny Lopez-Filkins, Bob Hover, John Phelan, Wade Troxell and Norm Weaver Guests Rick Coen and Bevan Noack; John Bleem, PRPA Meeting Convened Chairperson John Morris called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. Public Comment Rick Coen spoke at Council and is appreciative of all the Electric Board does. The Energy Policy was approved last night and, since it is now approved, the discussion comes to money and rates. At a PUC (Public Utilities Commission) workshop, Jim Lazar from the Regulatory Assistance Project shared a lot of great information. One of the key things he spoke about was the inverted tiered rates applied to most customers in the West. He also encouraged everyone to watch for President Obama's national plan. What is an inverted tier? An inverted tier rate is paying more each tier for kW usage in the residential area. Approval of December 17, 2008, Minutes Board Member Harris motioned to approve the minutes from the December 17, 2008, meeting. Board Member Wolley seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously. Introduction of New Board Member Steve Yurash is the new Electric Board Member. Mr. Yurash works for Intel in the hardware and development group and has a Bachelor's Degree in Physics from San Jose State. He grew up in Palo Alto, California and has been in Fort Collins since 2003 and enjoys the area very much. Fort Collins offers a great quality of life, and City Council is doing a great job. He is looking forward to working with the Electric Board. Code Change Light and Power Operations Manager Steve Catanach is on the agenda to discuss the change to the current Municipal Code and net metering at the Council work session on January 13. Direction is being sought from the Board and Council on how to proceed. The items will go to Council on February 3 for approval. EnerEv Policv Customer and Employee Relations Manager Patty Bigner is glad to report a "tweaked" version of the Energy Policy was adopted by the City Council on January 6, and it was a great outcome while strengthening policies and benefiting the community. As far as the implementation of the Energy Policy, we will follow strategy to look at potential savings from certain programs. R.W. Beck, our consultant, will work closely with us, and we are aiming to get to a Council work session in March. Our goal is to bring this back to the Electric Board in February for review of our strategies to implement the Energy Policy. Board Member Barnish commented regarding population growth and electric usage. The usage and population need to be separated by commercial and residential, because the population growth here is residential, and the electric usage is commercial and residential. He also recommended data for program support from the residential programs for conservation. The graph shown at Council was not representative of the usage and population growth. He'd like to see staff use the actual data and the graph, not shock factor. Council member Wade Troxell stated Council needs to see what staff is trying to do with the Energy Policy and conservation. Board Member Yurash noted we might want to consider something online for the public to look at the Policy including graphs that were eliminated from the document. What about the one percent and the economic downturn; how do we get the five percent reduction out? The reduction we are measuring for the one to one and a half percent is coming from the verifiable energy savings from our programs and services and is not the overall reduction in overall community. For example, if our growth rate is three percent, then it would be one and half percent with the services and if were to shrink five percent, then we would see a greater reduction with our services and savings. Privacv and Identity Theft Protection Plan Utilities Finance and Budget Manager Terri Bryant presented the Electric Board with the information on the identity theft program for the City of Fort Collins Utilities. Legislation is changing the way utilities are monitored for identity theft. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States and has emotional and financial cost. The reason it applies to utilities is that utility bills are easy to duplicate, can be used to show residency and enroll children into school. Also, utilities maintain ongoing accounts, and the accounts are designed to accept multiple payments. This falls under the FACT (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions) Act of 2003. The Act sets the standards for which we need to adhere to and requires each utility be up- to-date with security procedures to protect customers from identity theft. In 2007, the Red Flag Rules were added; businesses are now being held accountable for identity theft incidents. Utilities will fall in line with the same security standards needed as a bank due to the ongoing accounts we maintain and the responsibility to protect the identity of our customers. We have to be responsible to our customers to detect, prevent and mitigate. A Privacy Committee has been formed and approved by the Executive Director. There are various roles with the committee like the Privacy Officer, who will review incidents and a senior management role, which supplies the resources. Our strategy was to develop a program and have it approved by Council. The plan was approved by Council on October 21, 2008, and we are on track to meet our deadline of May 1, 2009 for program implementation. We are completing our assessment of our systems, policies and looking for gaps to secure information. Our processes will be changing to require government issued identification to initiate service. Every process will change from the placement of the fax and copier machines (to be locked in a separate area for protection) to the privacy screens on computers. All documents with customer information will be shredded. We are going step by step with our processes right now and ensuring that every base is covered. Training employees is an ongoing process. We are required to train our employees on the processes with annual refresher training. Utilities will use a process to validate the customer's personal information. This will now entail a credit check to verify the information given to us by the customer. Another impact will be the layout and changes to the billing office for security reasons. There are cameras being installed and privacy screens will be placed on computers to protect our customers. We intend to make sure the public is aware of the changes through the use of bill stuffers and other means of communication. The boards are being notified, and we will also be reporting to City Council on an annual basis with a report of the new policies, procedures and incidents. Board Annual Report Review The annual report is a summary of the 2008 activities of the Fort Collins Electric Board from the Board's 2008 Work Plan. Discussion: • "Funding" for programs added to first two bulleted items. • Carbon and RECs do not have offset certification and should rephrase "carbon emission" to energy portfolio. • Correct House Bill from 1160 to 1180. • Grammatical correction of kw to kW and Mw to MW. • Budget changed to expenses. • Add a note of appreciation for the support Council Liaison Troxell and the commitment made by him to participate with the Board. The Electric Board will accept the annual report after the changes are made. The concept of an Energy Board was discussed, specifically whether there would be benefit to having an Energy Board and maintaining the Electric Board for infrastructure and rates. A question arose about involving conservation and possible involvement of Xcel for use of gas in the home. The Electric Board focuses on utility service to the community, and the boards are meant to be advisors. Are they becoming a hindrance since everyone should have a board, should we cut them down or do we let every person have a board? The idea of changing the Electric Board to a Sustainability Board to focus mainly on various issues including energy use, transportation, recycling and emission reduction was discussed and thought to a more effective way to expand the role of the Electric Board. The Board does not see the benefit of converting this board to an Energy Board, but is willing to expand the work plan. We would like to keep the scope of this board as the Electric Board. The suggestion of a "Super Board" was brought up consisting of a member from each of the related boards to attend the "Super Board". This board might meet infrequently (2-3 times per year), discuss the intent and business of their board, such as policies. This would make each board responsible for their part and would go to Council with updates of the "Super Board". Council Liaison Troxell will bring up this topic at the Council retreat in May and come up with alternatives. The Electric Board will be notified of the discussion. Electric Board Bvlaws Assistant City Attorney Jenny Lopez-Filkins present proposed changes to the Electric Board Bylaws. The Water Board bylaws were updated at the end of 2008 and were used as a template for the Electric Board bylaws. The goal is to be up-to-date with the functions of the Electric Board. Board members were asked to review them and direct questions or comments to her. The Board will vote on these at the February meeting. Routine Updates PRPA - Board Member Bihn: No Report Capital News - Board Member Wolley: No Report Other Business Light and Power Operations Manger Steve Catanach would like to discuss AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) that will be going to a work session on March 24, 2009. Discussion would involve the societal benefits and cost decisions of AMI with Council at the work session and who it impacts and benefits. Future Aeenda Items Electric Board Bylaws- Action Plan Budget and Finance Presentation Elections Safety Manual - Steve Catanach Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:56 p.m. following a motion from Vice Chairperson Bihn. Submitted by Meagan Peil, Electric Board Secretary Fort Collins Utilities 11 Approved by the Board on r2,1 12009 Signed Meagan Peil Date