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HomeMy WebLinkAboutElectric Board - Minutes - 07/07/2010Fort Collins Utilities Electric Board Minutes Wednesday, July 7, 2010 Electric Board Chairperson City Council Liaison John Morris, 377-8221 Lisa Poppaw, 223-4136 Electric Board Vice Chairperson Staff Liaison Steve Yurash, 226-4248 Brian Janonis, 221-6702 Roll Call Board Present Chairperson John Morris, Vice Chairperson Steve Yurash, Board Members Tom Barnish, John Graham, John Harris and Steve Wolley Board Absent Board Member Dan Bihn Staff Present Brian Janonis, Bill Freeman, Robin The system also has useful features, such as the ability to make selective queries for comparative information. The vendor offers customer-facing portals which may be useful to Climate Wise partners for group comparisons, employee challenges and other types of opportunities. If the Utility t’ants to continue to use the software after the pilot project, will the Utility have to raise its own funds? The GEO grant covers software licensing and Motion: Vice Chairperson Yurash moves the Electric Board recommends that City Council approve the appropriation of the $72,000 in ARRAINEED grant funds for a pilot program to implement a sustainability information management tracking system. Board Member Graham seconded the motion. Discussion on the motion: I)oes this item hai’e to be included in the budget since the second year could find usjiinding the system? No, it platted area and aims to be a model of various efficiency initiatives, such as geothermal, low impact development for storrnwater, etc. Phase 3 of the PFC process will be to develop implementation plans for the policies. The triple bottoni line analysis will be completed for all policies. Board discussion: The social part of the triple bottom line analysis is enhanced with giving choices, meeting. Board and public outreach will occur in the fall once the City Manager’s Recommended Budget is ready and prior to Council approval in November. The Board will be able to isolate a few items that they will be most interested in commenting on in the budget recommendation, e.g. enhancement offers. Deep Energy Efficiency Program (DEEP) Application Energy Services Manager John Phelan Other Business None Future Agenda Items None Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:38 p.m. following a motion to adjourn by Board Member Wolley. Submitted by Robin Pierce, Executive Administrative Assistant (Board Secretary) Fort Collins Utilities Approved by the Board on 4 , 2010 Signed MO3ffl ‘— Board Secretary Date Electric Board Meeting Minutes 6 July 7, 2010 advised the Board of another grant application of significant size for the Deep Energy Efficiency Program (DEEP). The Department of Energy put out a funding opportunity for state energy offices to apply for, and Colorado’s GEO expressed interest in partnering specifically with Fort Collins on a whole building performance-based approach to energy efficiency. The program encompasses every type of initiative, such as technology, behavior around energy efficiency, etc. Medium-sized commercial and multi-family buildings are targeted for this program. Staff has been working to create mechanisms for the metrics for evaluation, creating and training workforce (contractors), and some innovative financing mechanisms which are transferable with the property. The total grant equals $4.8 million, of which $3.8 million would be for Fort Collins and Sl million set aside to replicate in other markets. The GEO expects to hear in the fall. Staffing was built into the grant. This integrates our Key Accounts Program, Energy Challenge, our web site, customer education efforts, assessments, and more, and Fort Collins feels honored to be part of it. Routine Updates PRPA (Vice Chaiiperson Yurash): There was no June meeting, so May minutes have not been approved. Utilities Executive Director Brian Janonis shared that the City of Loveland’s Council approved the Organic Contract and Power Supply Agreements last night, and these are on the consent agendas for Longrnont and Estes Park meetings later this month. Capitol News (Board Member Wolley): No report was given. Green Building Pro grain (Board Member Graham): A GBPAC meeting was held this afternoon. The goals of the program are to develop a Green Building code encompassing both residential and commercial buildings to leverage existing standards to the extent they meet our needs. The City engaged a number of consultants to work through the process, including The Brendle Group to do a cost benefit analysis. It’s an ambitious program with a year to get this done. The cost benefit analysis and code development efforts are going to involve more work than was expected. The City and The Brendle Group are making adaptations to the work load to still deliver within the year. Staff Reports Green Building Program (Mr. Phelan): The Green Building Program is going to a Council work session next week, and the Board was provided a copy of the second quarterly Green Building Program report. Council will be asked about elements within some very new codes and integrating them into the City’s existing building codes, rather than creating a separate Green Building code. A whole suite of voluntary, “above market” options are available for discussion, hut would not he part of the minimum standards. The presentation for the work session was taped by Energy Services Engineer Doug Swartz and will be available for viewing at www.fcgov.com soon. It was recommended that key take-aways he provided at the start of the presentation to Council. Electric Board Meeting Minutes 5 July7, 2010 and we must consider beyond just quality of lifr The more items are mandated, the lower the social score. A board member does not see enough choices in the Policy Choices document. This trend was also seen in the public feedback — too much mandate, not enoLigh choices — and will be discussed going forward. A board member noted on measure #1, “reduce net energy use “, a net energy benefit is always pointed out with distributed generation (solar or wind). When distributed generation is not available, coni,’entio,ial generation must be built to back tip the source. This creates a kilse economic benefit, because it’s not a net energy reduction. Energy reduction through efficiency cimid distributed generation are two separate ideas and it misleads unclerstanchng oft/ic concepts by combining them. The board member also ftivors smart planning Jrfiiture investment. Ms. Dorsey noted that distributed generation provides a benefit for the environment to those who wish to participate. Industry does recognize that efficiency and renewables go together, for example, in cases where adding renewables to an inefficient building is not recommended. Ms. Dorsey noted the sample size of respondents was small (-30 per question) and represents a self-selected group. It was noted these three items directly relate to items Utilities and the Board are already working on. Chairperson Morris will write a memo to Mr. Waido documenting that the Board’s work aligns with these items. 2011-2012 Budget Update Utilities Finance and Budget Manager Bill Freeman reported the budget teams are completing the second round of offers and will present the drilling platforms to the Budget Lead Team soon. Staff will bring a recommendation to this Board at the August meeting. A slight change has occurred in the proposed rate increases in 2011 from Platte River Power Authority — the 6.7 percent wholesale power rate is dropping to 6. 1 percent, which will drop our retail rate increase slightly. This is offset by a slight increase in 2012 from 5.5 percent to 6 percent. The debt service has been revised since the electric bonds were priced last week for ten years at an interest rate of under 2.3 percent. New enhancement offers were added in the budget for a thermal storage project (Ice Bear storage at three sites) equating to a 0.3 percent increase to the fund and additional Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) for $60,000 over 2011 and 2012. Projected salary increases for 2011 and 2012 have been removed from the budgets. Staff will provide the bulk budget offers for advance review. The budget results teams will release their prioritization of the budget offers in the drilling platform soon. The Budget Lead Team will make some adjustments, and staff will learn where the oilers are relative to the bottom line on the drilling platform the day before the August 4 Board Electric Board Meeting Minutes 4 July 7, 2010 is outside the bLidget. Vote on the motion: Four in favor, one against. Board Member Wolley voted against the motion, because his experience tells him these types of programs don’t work on a consistent basis. Colorado State University Permit Application for Service to Book Storage Building CSU is in the process of constructing a second addition to the Book Storage Building at 203 W. Lake Street and is asking City Council to grant a revocable permit to allow CSU to provide electric service to the entirety of the Book Storage Building, including a new second addition. A question was raised as to whether bringing this building into FortZED will provide a direct benefit to the project, and it will not provide any direct benefit. Motion: Board Member Wolley moved the Electric Board recommends to City Council that Council approve by resolution the grant of a revocable permit to Colorado State University (CSU) to cross Lake Street in the area shown in the survey provided, which permit shall allow CSU to provide electric service to CSU’s Book Storage Building at 203 W. Lake Street. Board Member Barnish seconded the motion. Discussion on the motion: None. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously. Plan Fort Collins (PFC) Judy Dorsey, president and principal engineer with The Brendle Group, and Ken Waido with the City’s Advance Planning Department attended to facilitate the board’s feedback on the Policy Choices document. Individual feedback has been received at the on-line site provided, but each board may also speak as a collective body. This iteration of the city plan has enhanced the Utilities/Energy Services field, which was a weakness in the prior plan. Three policy measures surround energy: I) reduce net energy use; 2) modernize the electric grid; and 3) improve energy performance of existing buildings. These evolved as a result of both the public input and staff committees. Light and Power Manager Steve Catanach serves on the committee. Some of these measures build upon existing programs and policies. Public input reflected concern with the costs involved with modernization. The “Dark Sky” concept related to the development of Union Place came up in a Green Building Program Advisory Committee (GBPAC) meeting. This concept places emphasis on reduction in street lighting and has not been brought up for the PFC Policy Choices document, hut it could be added. Union Place is a mixed-use development in a Electric Board Meeting Minutes 3 July7, 2010 set-up fees in the first year. The City would be responsible for an annual license fee of about $30,000- 35,000 following the conclusion of the pilot. A board member encouraged the pilot toftctis on the commercial sector. Some businesses still areii ‘t aware of our programs, such as those businesses that still use high disc/ia rge lighting. Is Energy Services capable of providing the staffing? Part of the intent of the pilot is to prove out whether our program managers can use this tool with some training. It doesn’t require hiring a database specialist. Utilities provides staffing ftr the Green Building Pro grain that’s not a direct impact like this program ina’ prove to be. How will Utilities provide the staff i,igfr both? Data can take a lot more time to go through, and Utilities has a limited number of people and one year to work with the pilot. With the Green Building Pro grain also underway, a board member is concerned ii’e ii’omi ‘t put the time into this one to learn all that it can do. Managers have planned staffing for the impact of set-up. This tool will hopefully make staff more effective and prove to be of assistance to us on the staffing level. The Green Building Program has been identified as a priority from the top of the organization. Are there other considerations? The impact of the $30,000-35,000 annual licensing fee for an ongoing commitment is a consideration. Also, the MIS department would send refreshed data updates, which could eventually become an automated process. In the planning going forward, staff will be mindful not to create unmanageable customer expectations, sLich as daily data updates. How will its success be judged? Metrics will be defined during the set-up phase. We hope to compare the results to metrics from other programs. How does it interact with smart metering data? There could he some redundancies to the data that the smart metering effort will provide. The smart grid initiative is rolling out over a 2-3 year period, and this pilot program may flush out some findings in the first year that can be incorporated into the smart grid program. There aren’t many tools for program management to help us look at aggregate data, whereas the smart grid program provides a variety of ways to show customers their data. Electric Board Meeting Minutes July 7, 2010 Pierce, Sharon Held, Norm Weaver, Bob Micek, Tom Rock, Jenny Lopez-Filkins, John Phelan, Felix Lee and Patty Bigner Guests Steve Hultin and Michael Randall, Colorado State University (CSU); Ken Waido, City of Fort Collins Advance Planning Department Meeting Convened Chairperson Morris called the meeting to order at 5:31 p.m. Public Comment None Approval of June 2, 2010, Minutes A correction to an error on Page 3 was noted. Vote on the motion will be changed to “three in favor”. It passed unanimously with this correction. New Energy Economy Development (NEED) Grant Appropriation Energy Services Engineer Norm Weaver presented the background for an Ordinance to appropriate grant revenue received from the State of Colorado Governor’s Energy Office (GEO). The grant totals $72,000 to conduct a pilot implementation of the “Carbon City Sustainability Information Management System” (SIMS). The pilot project will strengthen already budgeted initiatives for home and business energy efficiency improvements in Fort Collins and provide easier access to our customer data. Priority emphasis will be placed on confidentiality and security of data. Board discussion: This program sounds similar to the OPower home electricity reports program. The OPower program is strictly for residential customers. SIMS focuses on the use of many other types of resources, e.g., water data and carbon footprint information (including carbon usage counting), to both residential and commercial customers. Electric Board Meeting Minutes July 7, 2010