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HomeMy WebLinkAboutElectric Board - Minutes - 03/02/2011Fort Collins Utilities Electric Board Minutes Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Electric Board Chairperson City Council Liaison Steve Wolley, 288-0317 Lisa Poppaw, 223-4136 Electric Board Vice Chairperson Staff Liaison Edward DeCourcey, 206-9996 Brian Janonis, 221-6702 Roll Call Board Present Chairperson Steve Wolley, Vice Chairperson Ed DeCourcey, Board Members Tom Barnish, John Graham, John Harris, and Peggy Plate Board Absent Board Member Steve Yurash StaffPresent Brian Janonis, Steve Catanach, Patty Bigner, Ellen Switzer, Robin Pierce, Harriet Davis, and Bill Switzer Guests Rick Coen Meeting Convened Chairperson Wolley called the meeting to order at 5:31 p.m. Public Comment None Approval of the February 2, 2011, Minutes Board Member Graham moved to approve the February 2, 2011, meeting minutes. Board Member Barnish seconded the motion. It passed unanimously. A request was made to add a revision remark when applicable. In order to manage time more effectively, Chairperson Wolley asked for a volunteer to keep time. Board Member Plate will serve as timekeeper and provide a five minute warning when time on each topic is about to expire. Monthly Financial Report (Presentation available upon request) Utilities Financial Operations Manager Ellen Switzer presented the monthly financial report for the Light and Power fund. January revenues were 2.6 percent under budget, despite the rate increases. New rates do not go into effect until the meter is read. A rebound is expected in the February revenues. In response to a request at last month’s meeting, Ms. Switzer reviewed the major open capital projects. Board discussion: Is the amount of work remaining to complete each project in line with the remaining budget dollars? Electric Board Meeting Minutes March 2, 2011 The Southwest Annexation project may prove to he the most unpredictable in terms of finishing some necessary reliability improvements within the remaining budget available. American Public Power Association (APPA) Selected Financial & Operating Ratios (Presentation available upon request) Light and Power Operations Manager Steve Catanach covered various metrics from the American Public Power Association and the Electric Utilitys results when compared to like utilities. Fort Collins Light and Power serves 65,000 customers and are below the regional and national averages on rates. Residential demand was increased by 10 percent in response to a finding from a cost of service study. Utilities Executive Director Brian Janonis noted our rate philosophy is for rates to reflect the true cost of providing the service. Fort Collins Utilities operates on a tighter margin than other utilities, and most of our money is spent on operations and maintenance (O&M). Board discussion: How much of revenue is spent on O&M versus cajital projects? About 50 percent of revenue is spent on each category. Where do vacation dollars and hours go? Half of Light and Power employees have capital labor distribution numbers which automatically charge capital projects if the employee does not record their time in a specific way and half of employees have a normal labor distribution number. Budgeting was revised in the last two cycles and work continues to develop the proper allocation of employee hours. The Current Ratio metric represents the total of current and accrued assets to the total of current and accrued liability. Prior to 2008, the liability associated with our investment portfolio was all allocated to the General Fund. In 2008, a change was made to proportion the risk to the various funds, which caused a significant drop. Debt Service Coverage is at 1 .25, the minimum required. Times Interest Earned and Debt Service Coverage figures will reflect a bar for 2011. Uncollectible Accounts for Revenue Dollars: Utilities Customer and Employee Relations Patty Bigner noted Utilities will cease to handle collections in the future. Retail Customers per Non-Generation Employee: With the advent of smart meter technology, employee count will he reduced in the meter reader category. Total Power Supply Expense per kWh Sold: This represents our costs from Platte River Power Authority. Retail Customers per Meter Reader: The figures reflect a great work ethic by our employees; each employee reads about 500 meters per day. OSHA Incidence Rate per 100 Employees: Utilities has changed to a measure called DART (Days Away Restricted or Transferred) in 2010 and 2011. Utilities will develop metrics to support our performance excellence plan which reflect how and what we want to manage. Electric Board Meeting Minutes 2 March 2, 2011 Businesses will be close to their energy use. However, there is a lot more discretionari’ use in the residential sector, so staffmay want to look at how the frinula is working out as time goes on. Elasticity of electric rates is more minimal than with other utilities. Fort Collins CLEAN Solar Program (Clean Local Energy Accessible Now) (Presentation available upon request) Mr. Catanach reviewed recent developments with the CLEAN Solar Program. The proposed program is designed to support many Fort Collins initiatives, some of which include: * Action Plan for Sustainability * Local Action Plan for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction * Climate Action Plan * Energy Policy The program provides the option for a generating unit no bigger than 1 megawatt (MW). The CLEAN Coalition was engaged through our Economic Development office. We’ve committed to 0.5 percent rate increases in Years I and 2 in order to minimize rate increases. Board discussion: Board members discussed the level ofpredictability for local benefit. The Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) allows a 3 times multiplier when the benefit is local. The Coalition also calculated that we could do a maximum program of 14MW. They added a significant amount of avoided cost. Total expense past 2020 is $5-6 million per year. The Coalition communicated a 14MW project with a 1 percent rate increase to Council Finance Committee, which was not accurate. A 14MW project could be accomplished on future anticipated expenditures. With the RPS multiplier, the photovoltaic feed-in tariff option becomes competitive. There is a cost assignment as to how much is too much. What is to save the ratepayer a huge amount to get the last bit? Mr. Catanach will research the answer to this question. Local money is begin given to the person who put the local installation up, bitt they may have purchased it from an out-of-state source. The)’ sent their money out fstate originally, so it could be the same as buying wind out of state. The rate of return is having a local impact and going to our customers. The upfront costs could go anywhere, bitt once it’s on the ground in Colorado, it is providing in-state benefit then. Staff will seek direction from Council on taking the bundled Renewable Energy Credit (REC) to apply to the CLEAN Program. The pilot program would span a two year time frame. Electric Board Meeting Minutes 3 March 2, 2011 2010 Energy Efficiency Results Update (Presentation avail able upon request) Energy Services Manager John Phelan noted staff will return to the Board at a later time to furnish more details. Board discussion: Do custoniersfa’i’or some segments more than others? Staff has not seen any difference, although lighting has been the more universal opportunity. The Utility is starting to see where the federal regulations are influencing interest. Is there an opportunity that customers tend to gravitate toward? In the last several years, companies are driving commercial retrofits. When Utilities began the programs, we initiated the projects, and now they are contractor-driven. Is targeted marketing used? It’s been general to our commercial accounts or they self- select on options seen in our newsletter. The Carbon City tool will allow us to look at specific business sectors. The pilot year of the OPOWER Program concluded with December data. The program started with 25,000 customers and ended with 20,000 customers. Ninety-eight percent of those who started in the program are still in it. Fort Collins Utilities’ bimonthly report recipients exceeded the 4 percent savings mark in the final month of the program’s first year. OPOWER staff has never seen that type of savings. Employees who subscribe to features to come with automated metering infrastructure are those that are already engaged, and this program definitely increases customer engagement for those who like this type of program. A boat-d member asked Mr. Phelan to translate this into dollars added to the economy. A suggestion was made to include the question, “Did you know your participation is helping add dollars back to the local econonzv?” on the OPOWER reports or otherwise jirompt the public to raise awareness. A suggestion was made to make it more generic. Energy Education Programs Overview Education Coordinator Marcee Camenson provided an overview of the energy education programs which are targeted for businesses and schools. Program staff works with a variety of businesses to educate their employees. Once an energy efficient bLlilding is available, resources should be available to teach employees how to work in the building. Various options are offered. One example is an environmental footprint to plot monthly kilowatt per hour (kWh) use and convert it to carbon emissions. Water data can also be included. Staff has worked with a variety of community businesses, including Larirner County, Platte River Power Authority, Advanced Energy, United Way, and the Seed Preservation Lab. Electric Board Meeting Minutes 4 March 2, 2011 Handson labs are a popular feature for the school education programs. Ms. Camenson shared a video of middle school students participating in a lab. Board discussion: Do we receive feedback on what the students do with what they learn in the labs? Yes, Education staff is often sought out by students when they are in the community who share how meaningful the activities are to them. Routine Updates Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) (Board Member Yurash): Mr. Janonis shared that there is a potential rate structure change to the seasonal summer demand and energy rate. The partner cities all have a different rate structure that is not tied to PRPA’s rate. It was noted that Mr. Janonis was elected the PRPA Board Chair this month. Capitol News (Chairperson Wolley): No report. Green Building Program (Board Member Graham): Council approved the program last night. The second reading and vote occurs in two weeks. Staff Reports Mr. Catanach updated the Board that interviews for three AMI vendors are complete, and he thanked Board Member Graham for participating in the interviews. Each vendor addressed 250 elements representing a wide range of technology (quality control, security, infrastructure, etc.). Elster and Sensus are the final two vendors with final selection on March 11. Pricing will be integrated into the evaluations. Both vendors have successfully worked on large systems. Interviews begin tomorrow for the Meter Data Management System with selection set for the week after Spring Break. Other Business None Future Agenda Items None Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:58 p.m. Submitted by Robin Pierce, Utilities Administrative Services Supervisor Fort Collins Utilities Approved by the Board on . , 2011 Signed P6;bLr Pie_ Board Secretary Date Electric Board Meeting Minutes 5 March 2, 2011