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6.1. ERMUSR 05-10-2011Elk River Municipal 13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 55330-0430 UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING Phone: 763.441.2020 Pax: 763.441.8099 TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Troy Adams, P.E. -Director of Operations John Dietz, Chair Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair Al Nadeau, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: Ma 1Q 2011 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff U dates -Director of Operations DISCUSSION: The First week of May I attended the American Public Power Association (APPA) certification program for Public Power Managers held in Austin, TX. The certification program includes the following required cowses: Power Supply and Integrated Resowce Planning - An Introduction; Financial Planning, Budgeting and Performance -What Managers Need to Know; and Strategic Management for the 21 s` Century. The Utilities has continued to participate with the Visioning and Goals process with the City. A report on the "Tasks" level of the process will be given to the Council in early May. If the Commission is interested in receiving an updated presentation at an upcoming Commission meeting, please let me know. I have been invited and am planning to attend Great River Energy's annual meeting on June 1 s`. Staff has been working with Utilities Plus on a study of our diesel power plant. The study will outline the potential impact of new Federal regulations from the EPA that will affect ow plant. This study will help to identify cost and value to emission retrofits required by the regulations. These regulations may still be subject to change prior to their compliance date of March 2013. The study has a cost of $2,405 and is part of the budgeted retrofits for 2011. Depending on the results of the study and status of the regulations, the retrofits may be postponed. s Enclosed for yow reading: • The recent MM[JA Capitol Tattlers. Vol. 14, No. 8 March 25, 2011 With most attention at the state capitol focused on the budget and the big-ticket energy bills subject to negotiations between legislative leaders and Gov. Dayton°s administration, the last couple weeks were quiet on the energy front.. That is about to change. The House Environment, Eneray and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee on Tuesday, April 12, is scheduled to hear a slew of energy bills, including: HF1025 (Beard) Utility rates required to be based primarily on cost of service between and among consumer classes. HF1052 (Beard) Energy customers permitted to seek exemptions from a utility's conservation investment program, and clarifying changes made. HF1082 (Beard) Cold weather rule electronic notification authorized. HF1189 (Beard) Conservation improvement program exemption provisions modified. HF1193 (Beard) Municipalities and electric cooperative associations regulations amended with respect to energy conservation programs. HF1212 (Anderson) Melrose Public Utilities Commission membership increased from three to five members. HF1375 (Scott) Renewable energy standard compliance rate impact information required. HF850 (Beard) Public Utilities Commission authority to approve multiyear rate plan clarified, and multiple rate riders consolidated into single large energy project. The meeting will re-convene Wednesday, April 13. Bills will be heard for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. According to the meeting notice, no votes will be taken. Scuttlebutt is the Senate Committee on Ener¢v, Utilities and Telecommunications next Tuesday and/or Thursday will be focusing on telecom issues. Testimony may include an overview on the topic of broadband, including a report on the statewide broadband deployment study. Will municipal provision of broadband services-always a hat topic-crop up during these hearings? We will be keeping a close eye on developments. Look for a report on these items, along with other issues of interest, next week. Vol. 14, No. 9 April 15, 2011 While the budget has been the overriding focus on the Legislature for most of the year, energy bills were also in the spotlight this week. The Minnesota Senate voted Thursday to lift restrictions on new coal-fired power plants. The 42-18 vote would strike a portion of the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007 that imposes conditions on new coal plants or on importing electricity from such plants outside the state. Proponents of the bill, SF 86, including chief author Sen. Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont), said carbon-dioxide emission limits on coal-fired power plants have become obstacles to economic growth. Whether DFL-Governor Mark Dayton will sign bills approved by the Republican-led Legislature, of course, remains a source of some speculation. They were busy days Tuesday, April 12 and Wednesday, April 13 in the House Environment, Eneray and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee, as it heard a number ofenergy-related bills, including: HF1193 a bill making changes to the Conservation Improvement Program (CIP). The bill was drafted by the Minnesota Rural Electric Association. MMUA is neutral on the bill, MMUA's Bob Jagusch said in his testimony. MMUA would like to see some changes made in the program, but has been pursuing these changes administratively, through the state Office of Energy Security (OES). MMUA favors discussing changes to the law over the interim, and coming back with a consensus bill next session. One sticking point for MMUA is that the MREA-sponsored bill does not account for energy savings over the lifetime of a measure. That leaves intact the current practice of only counting savings from any particular measure for only one year. Bill Grant, director of the OES, said he was vvillirtg to work with bill drafters to try and make the language acceptable to the administration. He also said more fully accounting for utility-side savings could be handled administratively (a process MMUA has been working on) and his office is coming out with guidance on this issue. Grant said he believed the OES has flexibility to handle some of these issues now. No vote was taken on this bill, or any of the others heard. Instead, the bills are being considered for inclusion into an omnibus energy bill. Other bills heard this week in the Committee included: HF1212 (Anderson) Melrose Public Utilities Commission membership increased from three to five members (this bill was amended to allow up to seven commissioners). HF618 (Beard) Innovative energy project provisions modified and clarified. HF1375 (Scott) Renewable energy standard compliance rate impact information required. HF220 (Hancock) Renewable energy standard obligation calculation definition modified. HF1025 (Beard) Utility rates required to be based primarily on cost of service between and among consumer classes. Also drawing a lot of attention this week was HF1375, sponsored by Rep. Peggy Scott (R- Andover). The bill requires utilities, including municipal joint action agencies, to file reports "containing an analysis and estimation of the rate impact" of activities relating to meeting the state's Renewable Enemy Standards. The bill is being championed by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, but is also drawing support from a number of environmental organizations. MMUA has a number of concerns and is discussing these with the Chamber. The Legislature is scheduled to recess for the Easter break next week. The recess is currently scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. April 18 and go through April 25. Hearings and floor sessions are scheduled for April 26. The first policy committee deadline is four days after the Legislature returns from its recess-April 29. Policy bills must be heard in all committees in the house of origin to meet the first deadline. The second policy committee deadline-for bills to be favorably acted upon in the other body-is one week later: May 6. The Legislature is required to complete the session by May 23. Elk River -=~ Municipal Utilities 13069 Oeono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk Rivec, MN 55330-0430 UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING Phone: 763.441.2020 Aax: 763.447.5099 TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Theresa Slominski -Finance Director/Office John Dietz Manager Daryl Thompson Allan Nadeau MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: Ma 10, 2011 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff U dates -Finance Director/Office Mana er DISCUSSION: We are conducting interviews this week for our CSR position. Depending on availability, the position may be filled by the end of the month, however it is most likely that June will be the starting timeframe. Our first month with Cooperative Resource Center (CRC) providing our after- hours phone coverage and dispatch service has gone well. The call volume has been minimal, comparable to when GRE was responsible for the service. We had 801 credit card payment transactions in April, consistent with 800 in March. With April being the end of the cold weather rule, it was expected that the volume would be an increase over the prior months, however that is not the reality. April's fee should be $1,712.25. The commission will continue to be updated on the transaction volume and costs with the absorbed fee in place. The implementation of billing information available online at our website when people wish to make an electronic payment is underway and should be completed by the end of June. This is a service that Paymentus (our credit card service provider) is providing at a minimal cost to us and a great value to our customers. With it comes the capability for our customers to schedule a credit card for automated payment(s), and to view their bill(s) on their computer. Shut-offs went very well this year with only a couple of irate people actually on the premises. Field staff and office staff alike commented that this seemed to be the smoothest implementation of spring shut-offs remembered. With the credit card payment availability, many people were able to make a payment from home and didn't have to come on-site. This, along with great organization on Michelle Martindale's part, are attributed as major factors in the success of this year's shut-offs. We also had a uniformed officer here two of the days and greatly appreciated the service the police department provided to us. We have a few items that have presented themselves as potential opportunities for increased efficiency and improved customer service. Each of these is under $5,000 individually but given the tight margins of the budget this year, these will not be pursued until further into the year if it can be determined that the finances will allow it. We have some money budgeted for unforeseen projects or necessary maintenances, and we also have some new items in the budget Chis year that are unknowns for actual costs (the new after hours service and the meter reading coming in house.) Given these unknowns, we are especially cautious about committing to new projects, however see value in pursuing them. One of these items is an automated voice dialing system for leaving messages such as scheduled power outages, bill due date reminders, and specialized collection efforts. We also are looking at a software component to help with automated processing of certain payments, and a website update/facelift. These items are brought to your attention so you are aware we are looking into these things and will be careful before proceeding. Elk River.; Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Parkway phone: 763.441.2020 Elk River, MN 55330 Fax: 763.441.8099 UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Mark Fuchs John Dietz, Chair Line Superintendent Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair A1Ian Nadeau, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: Ma 10, 20] 1 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff Updates Discussion: • Continue working on changing out our overhead cutouts and fuses. With this we go thru checking pad mount transformers and pad mount switch gear making sure nothing is leaking, the proper tags are in place, the map book matches the tags and all the warning stickers aze on the outside. • Finished up tree trimming. • Found some connections that were starting to heat up at the Station 14 Bank 3 Substation. We found these with the infra red camera. • Spliced out the three phase primary wire and removed a three phase junction box that had rusted out by The Crossing Church. • Working on finishing up Engers addition rebuild. We had to stop the project due to the frost last fall. • Working on replacing some street lights that got damaged this winter and needed to be replaced. Also had a secondazy pedestal that was damaged that needed to be moved and replaced. • Finished installing a pad mount transformer and removed two overhead transformer banks at Cretex. This job was also started last fall. • I am going to an APPA course in Austin, Texas the first week of May. This course was on constructing, operating, and maintaining underground distribution systems. Elk River Municipal ties UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission David Berg- Water Superintendent John Dietz, Chair Al Nadeau, Vice Chair Da 1 Thom son, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: Ma 10'h, 2011 Staff U dates SUBJECT: S riot Antenna -Johnson Tower The final tower antenna is now on air. Johnson Tower is the last of the three towers to be on air with Sprint. Elk Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Wade Lovelette-Superintendent of Technical ~ John Dietz, Chair Services Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair Al Nadeau, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: May 10, 201 l 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff U dates - Su erintendent of Technical Services DISCUSSION: In April the Security Systems Department had a total of seventy-three phone contacts, eight new systems quoted, nine system sales made, eight installs completed, twenTy-six service calls made and eight personal visits. The Meter Reading department had the maps installed into the laptop for reading. This added with the gps component really makes the meter reading a lot easier and makes it easier to tell which meters were not able to read automatically. The Locating department had a total of two hundred eighty-seven locate tickets, four of them being emergency tickets. The number of locate tickets have been increasing steadily since the spring thaw. The generators were urged last month. The total for the run was 10.696 mega watt hours. Jeff Murray attended two trainings last month. His education summaries are included.