Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 03/09/2023 ENERGY BOARD March 9, 2023 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave – Colorado Room ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Bill Althouse (remote), Marge Moore, Jeremy Giovando, Bill Becker, Brian Smith, Thomas Loran (remote), Alan Braslau, Steve Tenbrink Board Members Absent: Vanessa Paul OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Christie Fredrickson (remote), Phillip Amaya, Kendall Minor (remote), Brian Tholl, Cyril Vidergar, Lance Smith, Phill Ladd, Glenn Pease, John Phelan Members of the Public: Rick Coen MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Tenbrink called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES None. PUBLIC COMMENT None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the February 9, 2023, minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. CONNEXION UPDATE Brian Hudson, Deputy Director, Broadband Chad Crager, Broadband Executive Director Connexion now has over 14,000 customers with a 33% take rate in single family homes. Industry-wide, there has been a shortage of installers, as well as supply challenges. Both of which are affecting Connexion’s financial models. Board member Loran asked what take rate the service expected to have by now. Mr. Crager said that whereas take rate is a great measurement for residential properties, because they all pay essentially the same monthly cost, commercial properties are not as well measured by take rate due to their varying needs in bandwidth. He notes that there is more potential revenue in that line of commercial customers. At this point they had hoped to be at 35% take rate in residential properties, but they are working to update their metrics to reflect revenue benchmarks since that will have a greater long term impact. Mr. Crager talked through Connexion’s business plan versus current project estimates (in build out, premise install, boring, growth, facilities, etc.), and noted that most of these categories have experienced cost increases, but there is also additional revenue coming in with every new install. As of the end of February 2023, $137 million has been spent, but there is an overall need of $158 million (~$20 million ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING difference). Connexion plans to bond along with Light & Power future needs to access the remaining funding, which will be similar to a line of credit and will be paid back through excess generated revenue. Connexion will soon begin offering an additional speed tier, 2-Gb symmetrical (upload and download) speeds. Mr. Crager announced that video prices will be increasing as Connexion’s providers are increasing their price, so those increases will be passed on to customers. He noted that at the foundation of Connexion, they believe in an amazing internet experience, but video service was added at the demand of users. Connexion recognizes that the availability of so many streaming services and options are confusing, so they are launching a new service called “MyBundle TV.” This online questionnaire will help users identify the best product for their video consumption needs; there will be instances where the best video offer may not be one provided by Connexion. Connexion is also identifying ways to ensure everyone in our community has digital inclusion, the goal is not only to ensure affordable internet access, but also expanding digital literacy. Some customers can qualify for a reduced rate, and the missing rate revenue is made whole through Connexion revenue (6% PILOT or payment in lieu of taxes) paid into the general fund. If a customer qualifies for the reduced rate they will also qualify for other discounted services throughout the community with partner organizations, such as the school district, Larimer County Small Business development and work place skills, EveryChild pediatrics and other school-based wellness clinics, etc. Chairperson Tenbrink asked how Connexion is counteracting Xfinity’s aggressive pricing strategy, what value does Connexion bring over Xfinity. Mr. Crager said generally the Xfinity lower prices are reflective of much lower speeds and service quality is diminished. Connexion is 1-Gb symmetrical speeds with 24/7 local support; even with promotional rates, Connexion’s pricing is more competitive for the quality of services. Board member Braslau said there must be specific grant opportunities to reach students in the district who need access to the internet. Mr. Crager said it is something Connexion continues to work with Poudre School District to identify opportunities and solutions. 2022 YEAR-END FINANCIAL RECAP Lance Smith, Director, Financial Planning & Assets, Utilities Phill Ladd, Financial Operations Manager, Utilities In 2018, the Utility tried to set up a Customer Information System (CIS) portal and billing system that would support all four utilities and Connexion, but that effort was unsuccessful and the City remains in litigation with the vendor. The City’s current system is 22 years old and is not as secure as a modern system will be. This appropriation request is to stand up a new CIS for the four utilities, without Connexion, and takes into account the lessons learned after the first attempt at a CIS project. Residential and commercial revenues were both ahead of budget in 2022. Mr. Smith noted that industrial sales revenue was slightly under budget, which is likely related to a shift in business practices after the COVID-19 pandemic, so there hasn’t been much growth in that area right now. Development fees were also ahead of budget in 2022. Year over year revenues are also showing steady growth in residential, commercial, and industrial sales from 2020. L&P Operations, Energy Services, Community Renewables, were all under budget in 2022. Mr. Smith explained that though Administrative Services are currently showing over budget, staff has not yet ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING completed a year-end true-up process and Mr. Smith expects it to be below budget after that process is complete. PILOTs (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) were over budget, but that is because revenues were over budget. Year over year there has been steady growth in all categories since 2020. Chairperson Tenbrink asked why Energy Services was under budget. Mr. Phelan said that program participation has been down since the COVID-19 pandemic, and while staff continues to expect participation to come back it has been slow. Purchased Power expenses increased significantly in 2022, due to a large increase passed down from Platte River. Mr. Smith said in summary operating revenues were over budget, operating expenses were challenging in 2022, operating income is above target, and non-operating revenues from new development and earned interest are over budget. Board member Braslau asked if the increased purchased power expense also correlated to an increase in sales. Mr. Smith said yes, slightly, sales were only 1% higher than they were in 2021, but the increase was 5.2% on a per kilowatt basis. Vice Chairperson Becker asked if the Utility is working to build back up reserves with the 2% operating margin each year. Mr. Smith said yes, and there will be additional discussion of reserves in the next presentation. CUSTOMER INFORMATION SYSTEM (CIS) OFF CYCLE APPROPRIATION REQUEST Lance Smith, Director, Financial Planning & Assets, Utilities Phill Ladd, Financial Operations Manager, Utilities In 2018, the Utility tried to set up a Customer Information System (CIS) portal and billing system that would support all four utilities and Connexion, but that effort was unsuccessful and the City remains in litigation with the vendor. The City’s current system is 22 years old and is not as secure as a modern system will be. This appropriation request is to stand up a new CIS for the four utilities, without Connexion, and takes into account the lessons learned after the first attempt at a CIS project. Staff anticipates this process will take about 24 months to replace the current system and create a new, more user-friendly customer portal. They are currently wrapping up the second week of a five-week long stretch of vendor demos, after which staff will make the final vendor selection and then begin work on the services contract. Mr. Smith noted this the appropriation request is not for the full cost of the implementation; there will need to be another appropriation for the actual software solution itself. This request would fund project management through go-live, including quality assurance at each step of the implementation, as well as the legal review of the services contract and additional contractual staffing for the duration of the implementation. Staff is requesting the appropriation now so that once contract negotiations are complete, they can immediately move on to implementation without any downtime. Board member Braslau wondered how much of the failed project funding belonged to Light & Power. Mr. Smith said in the new implementation, approximately 50% will be billed to Light & Power, and though he does not have the exact amounts from the previous project, he believes the allocation was roughly the same; he explained the allocation was determined by how many bills each service is generating. Board member Althouse asked how future-proof the new system will be, will it be prepared for the future ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING grid? Mr. Smith said a specific solution has not yet been selected, but each of the five vendors are currently demonstrating how their product works and staff is gravitating toward a hosted platform. It’s difficult to know how exactly the world and the grid will look in 25 to 30 years, but utilizing a hosted platform allows for changes and modernization as needed. Mr. Phelan added many of the concerns and capabilities Mr. Althouse wants to ensure are addressed (such as bi-directional transactions, etc.) were provided as requirements to the vendors. Mr. Althouse requested to see more details from the RFP, if possible. Contractual staffing will be utilized to backfill employee positions whose expertise in the Utility’s business processes, as well as how the current billing system functions, will be needed through the implementation. These positions include four customer service providers, one customer experience provider, one billing and accounts receivable specialist, one field service lead, and five information technology solution providers. The implementation is expected to be completed within 24 months. Because these contractual positions will need to be filled and trained, staff is seeking sufficient funding to cover two and half years of contractual salaries. In total, staff is seeking a $4.25 million appropriation, inclusive of implementation project management and quality assurance ($1.5 million), contract review and counsel ($100,000), and contractual implementation staffing ($2.65 million). Until the solution provider has been selected, Mr. Smith can’t say specifically how much the contracted solution and licensing will be, but based on the proposals received so far, he expects those costs to be in the $9-14 million range. Mr. Smith will be back to the Energy Board to ask for a second appropriation to fund the implementation after a vendor has been selected. Board member Althouse asked if the City is able to call the Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) (composed of national laboratories and Department of Energy experts), who are available to provide free consultations on the engineering impacts of the billing system and advise if they believe it will be able to get the Utility to the future-state grid or not. Mr. Amaya said he would provide staff with some additional information on Mr. Althouse’s request. Mr. Smith advised the new CIS was included in the Capital Improvement Plans (CIP), which were presented ahead of the 2023-24 budget cycle. At the time, he assumed the CIS could cost up to $12 million in those CIPs, which is to say that the cost for this capital project is already included in the rate and debt forecasts that were shared with City Council last November as part of the 2023 rate ordinances. Vice Chairperson Becker wondered why this project is falling under an appropriation request and not part of the normal budget process. Mr. Smith advised it was due to a timing issue, the budget cycle is a long, nine-month process that (typically) only happens every two years. When staff was putting together the 2023-2024 budget, they did not yet have the information to put together a fully flushed out budget offer. Board member Giovando asked how staff arrived at the final number of contractual support staff needed. Mr. Smith said along with working with a consultant, staff has also been doing reference checks with similar customer bases who have been through a similar implementation. Mr. Ladd clarified that the contractual positions are backfilling day-to-day operations, while the City’s current full-time employees will be focused on implementation. Board member Braslau moved the Energy Board to support the appropriation of these funds from the respective utility’s reserves to support the next phase of the modernization of the utilities customer information system. Board member Smith seconded the motion. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Discussion: None. Vote on the Motion: It passed unanimously, 8-0, with one absent. EFFICIENCY WORKS HOMES REBATE RELAUNCH Brian Tholl, Energy Services Supervisor Glenn Pease, Mechanical Engineer II, Utilities Customer Connections Mr. Pease said there is a lot of exciting work this year in the Efficiency Works rebate and retrofit programing. Staff is on track to roll out the rebate launch on April 1st, which will include new and higher incentives for heat pumps and beneficial electrification. The new rebates will include $2,000 (roughly 4 times the previous rebate amount) for a Cold Climate Heat Pump/AC, $1,500 (roughly 3 times the previous rebate amount) for an ENERGY STAR equivalent Heat Pump/AC, and $800 (roughly 2 times the previous rebate amount) for a Heat Pump Water Heater. There will also be a $100 additional incentive for a grid flexible (demand response) heat pump water heater, and 40% more for Air Sealing and Insulation. There will no longer be incentives for gas, but there will be additional funding and resources to support the CARE program (Colorado's Affordable Residential Energy). All electric households are also eligible for 3 times bonus on all rebates. Staff recognizes there will be process and readiness challenges throughout the move toward electrification, and they are considering follow up and outreach mechanisms with customers to talk about education and envelope upgrades. Mr. Pease noted that over 80% of the program work is in HVAC, and very few projects have been Heat Pump upgrades. Staff believe it will take some time for contractors to make the shift from selling furnaces to selling heat pumps and considering ways to address that issue with the local workforce. Vice Chairperson Becker pointed out that most people likely put a high level of trust into their contractor’s opinion, so there is a powerful link to address between the contractor and the customer. It’s important to not only get heat-pump positive contractors on board, but also address contractors who might actively be sabotaging heat pump installations (among other electrification projects). Mr. Tholl added that HVAC is traditionally a very risk-averse industry so there is a lot of opportunity for education. The City’s Epic program is well positioned, and has a long history of working with customers, vendors, partners, and contractors to overcome barriers. The Utility will need to continue to work in partnership with a variety of stakeholders to continue the program’s success. Many of the challenges in electrification are not new and we’ve overcome challenges with customer education, contractor recruitment, and whole house program design in the past. Though the Utility was focused on efficiency, it can now take those lessons and apply many of them to this shift in electrification. A detailed description of the rebate program changes can be found here. CLIMATE FUTURE METRICS SUMMARY John Phelan, Energy Services Manager & Energy Policy Advisor Mr. Phelan recapped the high level goals of Our Climate Future; he will not be presenting any new data (all data is from 2021), but rather an overview of timing, sequences, and where the plan information resides. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING With Our Climate Future, it is easy to focus on the first three goals of the plan: Carbon reductions of 50% by 2026, 80% by 2030 (below the 2005 baseline),100% renewable electricity by 2030 (including 5% from local sources), and achieve zero waste, or 100% landfill diversion, by 2030. Mr. Phelan said it is important to know there are many other goals within the plan, including reliability metrics, grid flexibility metrics, efficiency goals for electricity and natural gas, as well as energy code requirements. The goals are reported out several ways. There are two public dashboards, the CAP (Climate Acton Plan) Dashboard, which includes a complete community inventory (with a two-year lag time), and the Community Dashboard, where electricity use is updated quarterly. There are also several publications, including the energy results infographic (released mid-year for the prior year), the carbon results infographic (two-year lag), and the waste results infographic (one year lag). Finally, there are a handful of internal dashboards which are not necessarily public facing, but the data from them is often times used for internal and external presentations. These include electricity resource mix (updated annually), efficiency portfolio results (updated annually), grid flexibility results (updated annually), and community carbon (preliminary results by Q2 for the prior year). Mr. Phelan added that often times preliminary numbers are available for some of these metrics, but the data is incomplete. The 2022 annual reporting is scheduled with the Board for later this spring, and Mr. Phelan anticipates staff and the community team to develop recommendations for more integrated OCF reporting. Board member Loran expressed that at times it seems like we are too late and too behind to reach our 2030 goals, and hopes there is either access to real-time data, or a concrete plan to close the gap. Mr. Phelan said the pathways modeling staff did for City Council last year showed community wide reaching about 70%, but that was with everything modeled going great; he said he absolutely hears Mr. Loran’s (and the entire Board’s) concerns about potentially being behind, but ultimately whether we can make enough progress on petroleum and natural gas is the risk. Board member Althouse agreed with Board member Loran and said the City of Fort Collins is not going to be a leader in this space unless it aggressively accelerates. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Vice Chairperson Becker took a course through SEPA (Smart Electric Power Alliance), and though he didn’t necessarily learn anything new, he felt it was a valuable refresher and might be good for new Board members if the City receives any discounted entry to things like that. Board member Braslau said it would be helpful to revisit the discussion about attending other City Board and Commission meetings. Chairperson Tenbrink agreed, and the Board decided to add the topic to a future agenda. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW The Board’s April meeting will include presentations about federal and state funding, a transformer Load shape analysis (pertaining to electric heat, and a discussion of the City Boards & Commissions schedule. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 8:00 pm.